Committee chair Jerzy Buzek, a Polish member of the EPP group, referred to the situation in Ukraine in his welcome statement: "The crisis in Ukraine reminds us that energy security of the EU does not end at the EU borders. It is a pan-European challenge."
In his opening speech, Mr Oettinger said that in the field of energy, many people think that relations with Russia are more important that relations with Ukraine, but "we have to overcome this". He added: "Gas can be used as a weapon and no longer be delivered. This is not yet the case, but we believe that Russia will do whatever they can to undermine Ukraine." Oettinger said: "Perhaps Ukraine could purchase gas from Russia with co-finance from the EU in order to store more gas."
The commissioner also pleaded for more collaboration on energy. The EU already has a legal basis to work on energy issues, but "we now have 28 fragmented systems", he said. Several MEPs shared his view that more should be done to combat this fragmentation and to link the energy sectors of countries within the EU.
MEPs
Martina Werner, a German member of the S&D group, said: "He has partly applied climate goals, but not fully. I'm especially critical of the directive on energy efficiency. We, the Socialists and Democrats, had hoped for much more."
Dawid Bohdan Jackiewicz, a Polish member of the ECR group, asked whether new energy efficiency targets would hurt member states' competitiveness and wondered how they would affect energy prices.
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