Practical information:
- Composition of the Study Group
- Francesco NAPOLITANO (Administrator), Virginie ANDRÉ (Assistant)
- TEN Section: 16 May 2023
- EESC Plenary: 14-15 June 2023
Summary:
Monitoring the EU's extraordinary measures and resilience in the field of energy
After covid and the previous external tariff policy, Europe has to become now more autonomous in terms of energy resources, raw materials and industry.
The Russian aggression against Ukraine has deeply altered the global energy system, pushed up energy prices, increased energy safety concerns, and revealed the excessive dependence of the EU on Russian gas, oil and coal.
The EESC, which plays a key role in putting forward its contribution to the initiatives that Spain will take under the EU Presidency, is going to provide an opinion on the "monitoring of the EU's extraordinary measures and resilience in the field of energy". The opinion will tackle resilience in general, and more particularly how it is impacted by the EU's strategic autonomy and EU industry.
Strategic autonomy is not a new concept in the EU. The debate has gone beyond the Security and Defense area and is now affecting other economic and social sectors, such as industry, energy, technology and trade, in view of the double green and digital transition.
In the quest for a balance between an autonomous industrial policy and the preservation of free trade, the concept of "Open Strategic Autonomy" is now used, which makes more urgent to the issues of critical dependencies and strategic autonomy. The EU has to rethink its approach towards the suppliers of strategic resources, go back to the internal market and strengthen the European industry based on critical resources, in order to guarantee the welfare of citizens and create jobs.
The European Commission is aware of the importance of strategic dependencies, which it keeps monitoring. Besides, the European Commission is promoting industrial partnerships that should accelerate investment, innovation and high-value job creation.
It would be crucial to establish a solid basis to achieve the technological and environmental transition, which is already on its way.
To that end, the Opinion is going to consider how to build an industrial policy that supports those industries that are strategic, based on critical resources, that provide added value and that are indispensable to our industrial and technological development in the EU.