The EU summit dedicated to energy sources, energy efficiency and climate was held at the end of this week in Brussels. It was also a farewell meeting- the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and the President of the European Commission-Portuguese Jose Manuel Barroso bid farewell to the EU institutions at the end of their mandates and bought Belgian beer and Portuguese wine to the journalist who attended the summit.

Bulgarian President Rossen Plevneliev also attended the summit. Within the frameworks of the event he told the media that it was of extreme importance for Bulgaria to bet on energy efficiency, the liberalization of the energy market and the diversification of the gas supplies. In this connection Plevneliev accentuated that it was of great importance for his country to speed up the construction of gas interconnection with its neighboring countries. With regard to the CO2 emissions and the renewable energy President Plevneliev said that Sofia was far ahead other cities regarding the parameters set by the EU. However, Bulgaria remains among the countries from the Central and Eastern Europe which contend that the targets of the Western European countries regarding the reduction of CO2 emissions are too ambitious and would expose their national economies to risk, as they rely on carbon energy sources such as coal.

All participants agreed on a certain compromise during the summit. The share of the so-called green electricity in the EU will remain unchanged by 2030- at 27% of the total energy mix. The countries have to boost their energy efficiency with 30% by 2030- i.e. this target remains unchanged. The CO2 emissions must be reduced by 40%, as compared to the levels in 1990. However, as Mr Herman Van Rompuy specified, not all EU countries have the capacity to reach these targets and each country is to contribute to these goals in line with its capacity and well-being.

With regard to the natural gas issue, the participants at the EU summit agreed to develop strategic projects of mutual interest. The Southern Gas Corridor which competes with the South Stream gas project was also mentioned by the participant. It has to supply Europe with gas from the Caspian region and the Near East.

Against the backdrop of the good and ambitious intentions of the EU negotiated in Brussels, the current reality in Bulgaria regarding the gas field does not look so optimistic. The winter is near and according to a research of the European Union published several days ago, this country would be among the most affected states, should Moscow and Kyiv fail to negotiate about the gas supplies and Russia decides to close the tap in the middle of the winter. Bulgaria’s dependence on Russian gas is nearly 90% and its gas reserves could last for just over one month.