site.btaEU Presidency Energy Portfolio Handed Over to Bulgaria

EU Presidency Energy Portfolio Handed Over to Bulgaria

Sofia, December 19 (BTA) - Bulgaria's Energy Minister Temenouzhka Petkova took over the Energy portfolio of the EU Council Presidency from Estonia's Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Minister Kadri Simson on December 18, Petkova's ministry reported. The handover took place during the year's last formal meeting of the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in Brussels. Bulgaria will preside over the EU Council in the first half of 2018.

Petkova thanked the outgoing Estonian Presidency of the EU Council for its considerable achievements in implementing the programme of the Presidency Trio of Estonia, Bulgaria and Austria (July 2017 - December 2018).

Monday's meeting agreed on a common approach to the legislative package "Clean Energy for All Europeans," Petkova said, as quoted in the press release. "The building of a stable European Energy Union and the attainment of positive results on the current matters on the agenda of the EU Council are major highlights of our programme for the first Bulgarian EU Presidency," Petkova said.

She further elaborated: "We find it important to carry out a gradual and economically sensible transition to low-carbon energy while taking account of the national characteristics of the energy sector in each member state."

Bulgaria's main goals include promoting regional cooperation by building necessary infrastructure in order to ensure energy supply security. As for the energy security of Southeastern Europe, it is essential to have natural gas interconnectors between the countries in the region and to build a European Gas Hub in the Balkans, Petkova said, presenting the programme of the Bulgarian EU Presidency for the energy sector.

In addition to the regular EU Council meetings of energy ministers in Brussels, the next six months will also see over 20 conferences on energy matters which will be held in Bulgaria, the press release said.