France wants to make access to European funds conditional on the European minimum wage and respect for the rule of law, the state secretary for Europe, Amélie de Montchalin, told EURACTIV Slovakia in an interview.
The EU does not have a real 'European foreign policy' because every country works on its own and member states do not want to give full responsibility to the EU's High Representative, a former senior French and EU diplomat told EURACTIV Slovakia in an interview.
Central Europe falls under the EU average of electric vehicle market penetration. But it doesn’t want to be left behind by the global trend, leaping into battery production and dreaming even bigger. EURACTIV's network partners report.
Europe must adopt an ambitious industrial policy aligned with its climate agenda by investing in clean technologies, and introducing a carbon tariff at the EU’s external border in order to protect industries against environmental dumping, says Bas Eickhout, the lead candidate for the Greens in the European elections.
The sharing economy can kill two birds with one stone by lowering the cost of green technologies and reducing polluting emissions, cleantech expert Radoslav Mizera told EURACTIV Slovakia.
The just transition declaration adopted at the COP24 in Poland sounds good but it is not connected to any kind of climate ambition or specific energy projects involving local communities, Alexandru Mustata told EURACTIV Slovakia.
Eastern EU countries have a positive opinion of nuclear energy while others like Belgium and Spain are shifting against, says Yves Desbazeille. The big question for the industry is whether Germany will turn even more anti-nuclear than it already is, he says. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.
Ukraine should decrease its transit fees if it wants to undercut the business case for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline bringing Russian gas directly to Germany, says Thierry Bros.
Despite progress in recent years, local circular economy efforts in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are still plagued by inefficient management, cheap landfilling and problematic reporting. EURACTIV's network reports.
There is a strong possibility that Poland will build a floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Gdańsk, according to Fred H. Hutchison, who says “a lot of gas” can come to Central European markets this way.
The European Commission’s analysis of clean air measures adopted at national level are at a “very advanced stage”, said Daniel Calleja Y Crespo, who recently came to Slovakia for the Clean Air Dialogue.
Unregulated electricity prices – and equal access to the grid for both large and small producers – are the only way to ensure higher share of renewables in the long run, says Latvian MEP Krišjānis Kariņš.
Power grid interconnections and system flexibility are key to integrate bigger shares of renewables. A Franco-Irish research project aims to produce a roadmap to deploy EU power grids that can handle more than 50% of electricity from intermittent renewable sources.
Intermittent renewable electricity will need backup for at least the next 20 or 30 years, says Irish MEP Seán Kelly. As the least dirty among fossil fuels, natural gas is probably the most cost-effective and “preferred option,” he argues.
While Energy Union boss Maroš Šefčovič is making a case for a transition to geothermal energy in the Upper Nitra region of Slovakia, Prime Minister Robert Fico still believes in the future of lignite mining. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.
Europe can decarbonise its industry thanks to a combination of natural gas, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage technology, Statoil executive Sonja Chirico Indrebø told EURACTIV Slovakia in an interview.
EDF and EirGrid, the leading French and Irish energy companies, have won €20 million under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme to develop ways of integrating large amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources into the electricity grid.
While EU countries step up efforts to phase out coal, the European Commission is preparing a new initiative to support regions in transition, says Dominique Ristori.
Local communities are at the forefront of the clean energy transition in Germany, with some villages relying 100% on renewables. EURACTIV Slovakia spoke to mayors there.
While the European Commission is pushing to accelerate the deployment of low-emission vehicles, Slovakia – a little-known automotive ‘superpower’ in Europe – continues to drive in the slow lane, EURACTIV.sk reports.
Germany's Neurath coal power plant ranks second in the EU in terms of both installed capacity and CO2 emissions. The newest units of the lignite-powered facility are expected to operate until 2055, illustrating the difficulty of phasing out coal power entirely. EURACTIV Slovakia reports.
The political climate for nuclear energy is "not very positive" in Europe, admits William D. Magwood, and the industry is currently shifting towards Russia and Asia as a result. But the emergence of small modular reactors (SMR) built in factories might slow down the process, he argues.
The European Commission’s proposal for a CO2 limit on power plant subsidies is supported by the Council of Ministers, insists Ando Leppiman. But now the issue is more how it can be managed, he told EURACTIV.sk.
If Russia’s gas supply to Europe is to remain reliable, the Ukrainian system must run parallel to Nord Stream 2, Oleksandr Sukhodolia told EURACTIV Slovakia.
