Luxembourg has joined the European Commission and eight other EU countries in signing a declaration establishing a concrete roadmap to build an integrated network of wind farms in the North Sea.

The signing ceremony took place on the sidelines of the EU Energy Council held in Luxembourg on Monday 6 June 2016 and involved the Energy ministers of the riparian states of the North Sea (Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and France), the Benelux countries and the European Commission.

The goal of the project is to create good conditions for the large-scale development of offshore wind energy and thereby ensure a sustainable, safe and affordable energy supply in the countris of the North Sea. At the signing ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy of Luxembourg, Étienne Schneider, emphasised the importance of reviving the project in order to obtain European objectives in the field of renewable energy and climate change.

The Deputy Prime Minister then took part in the Energy Council of the European Union where he intervened in a debate on gas supply security by stressing the importance of the principle of solidarity between Member States.

"There will not be a credible Energy Union worthy of the name without concrete action behind the word solidarity," commented Étienne Schneider.

Étienne Schneider also used the opportunity to reaffirm his complete opposition to the use of the EU budget for research in the field of new nuclear technologies:

"I am respectful of the Treaty and the freedom of each Member State to define its energy mix and establish, if it so desires, technological cooperation with other partners in the EU and outside of the EU, including in the nuclear field. Still, I absolutely can not accept that the promotion of nuclear research is done with European funds."

Minister Schneider was supported on this point by his fellow German, Austrian and Greek colleagues.

 

Photo by the EU (L-R): Mr Etienne SCHNEIDER, Luxembourg Minister of Internal Security; Mr Johan VETLESEN, Deputy Director General, Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy; Ms Asa WEBBER, Deputy Permanent Representative of Sweden to the EU; Mr Miguel ARIAS CANETE, Member of the European Commission; Mr Maros SEFCOVIC, Vice President of the European Commission; Mr Henk KAMP, Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs.