In his second blog entry, Andris Piebalgs moves the focus to European energy security. A few choice excerpts for those who want to have a more spontaneous debate:

Europe is currently importing half of their energy needs, and according to most of the studies, our dependency may grow to 70%. We are running out of fossil fuels and our energy needs grow. This makes Europe terribly vulnerable. As Commissioner responsible for security of supply I often wondered, where are we going to get all that energy from? (my emphasis)

The EU is already a leader in renewable energy sources and we have taken a commitment to go further with a mandatory target of 20% of our final consumption by 2020……

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Ambitious indeed, but I would like Europe to go far beyond this target and there are many reasons for that: climate change, competitiveness, development of new technologies, new companies, new jobs you name it. And if this was not enough, we simply have to think that every wind mill, every solar panel, every litre of biofuel makes the EU simply more independent.

And on the recent spat between Russia and Ukraine on gas supplies (discussed by Jerome here):

A first agreement was reached on the phone by Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy chairmen, and normal deliveries of gas have been resumed. I must say that the fact that supplies to Europe remained unaltered during the bilateral conflict between Russia and Ukraine plays in favour of their reputation as reliable supply and transit country. But I am still concerned. What would it happen if the bilateral crisis had become worse? Will this happen again? What about if a key supply infrastructure is destroyed by an accident or a terrorist attack? What would be the consequences for Europe of geopolitical instability in key energy regions like the Gulf?

I have to say I am warming to Mr Piebalgs appreciation of the precarious state of European energy security and the proposed expansion of renewables targets will receive my full support – with one glaring exception.

One omission from the whole strategy is energy efficiency. This I believe must lie at the heart of everything we do.