The Luxembourgish presidency begins its six months at the helm of the EU faced with a major energy policy challenge. The establishment of a 'governance system' for the newly-born energy union, in order to trigger even more convergence between Europe's 28 national energy policies is crucial.
It is fundamental to ensure that we fully achieve our 2020 targets and reach our more ambitious 2030 objectives in the areas of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
In order to do so, Luxembourg will build upon its longstanding Benelux experience to propose macro-regional cooperation between neighbouring countries, such as Scandinavia, the North Sea countries, the Baltic States and central and south-eastern Europe.
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Such regional cooperation would accelerate the convergence of national energy policies, ultimately leading to the completion of the internal energy market.
In addition, the Luxembourg presidency is expected to steer negotiations on the revised regulation on energy labelling, so that European consumers can assess the energy performance of their products and appliances thanks to a legible and meaningful scale, stretching from A to G, and reduce their energy bills.
Overall, I am of the opinion that strong European leadership on renewables and efficiency, as well as the most cost-effective climate solutions, would allow the Luxembourgish presidency to benefit from the highest possible credibility ahead of and during the Paris UN climate conference in December.
I hope that Europe will play its role in order to reach a satisfactory international agreement allowing global warming to be contained to two degrees centigrade by the end of the century, which represents a major challenge for our planet.