site.btaChairpersons of Energy Committees of Parliaments of EU Member States Meet in Sofia

Sofia, May 14 (BTA) - Sofia hosts a meeting of the Chairpersons of Energy Committees of the Parliaments of the European Union. Opening the event on Monday, held as part of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, National Assembly Chairperson Tsveta Karayancheva said that Bulgaria works actively on important topics such as the EU energy infrastructure, the security of energy supplies, the transition to clean energy in Europe, and the market integration of the renewable energy sources.

In the area of energy, the Bulgarian EU Presidency works to achieve a stable European energy union and positive results on the main issues in the energy sector on the EU agenda, Karayancheva also said. In her words, the EU can be sustainable if it reflects the specifics of the individual member states and uses a non-discriminatory approach and technological neutrality.

Chairman of the parliamentary Energy Committee Delyan Dobrev said that Bulgaria takes an active part in the formulation and implementation of the EU energy policy based on EC's Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-looking Climate Change Policy launched in 2015 which is made up of five closely related and mutually reinforcing dimensions: security, solidarity and trust, a fully-integrated internal energy market, energy efficiency, climate action - decarbonising the economy, and research, innovation and competitiveness.

Dobrev spoke about eight legislative amendments in the area of energy efficiency, energy from renewable sources, the model of the electricity energy market, and creating the legal framework for the governance of the energy union, all of which are aimed to preserve the competitiveness of the EU in the conditions of the clean energy transition.

Dobrev said that the expectations in Bulgaria are that the negotiations with the European Parliament on proposed amendments to the energy efficiency directive, the directive for renewable energy sources, and the regulation on the governance of the energy union will be completed by the end of Bulgarian EU Presidency.