State of the Energy Union 2017 - Social Fairness and Civil Society Participation in Europe's Energy Transition

In November 2017, the European Commission released its third report on the State of the Energy Union. The Commission’s overall assessment of progress towards achieving the goals of the Energy Union is positive but it recognises that much still needs to be done. In particular, it promises 2018 to be a Year of Engagement, ensuring that citizens and civil society are mobilised and take full ownership of Europe’s energy transition. The EESC has previously highlighted a number of challenges in realising the Commission's vision of putting the citizen at the heart of the Energy Union and the progress made in this respect.

This public hearing therefore pursues two overarching goals, namely to hear how civil society organisations and experts assess the State of the Energy Union and to explore opportunities to improve economic and political ownership of the Energy Union by citizens and civil society.

This event is part of the EESC's initiative of the "European Energy Dialogue" that aims at fostering an open debate on Europe's Energy Union of cross-cutting topics among stakeholders, policy-makers, and citizens from across Europe.