M. Topolánek: Changes in European legislation will make it possible to speed up construction of new energy sources

A speech by Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek at the "Ensuring Energy Security for Member States of the EU Within the Framework of the Common Electricity Market" conference in Ostrava.

I would like to welcome you here in Ostrava.

It is no accident that we are holding a conference on the internal market in electricity in this region. It lies on the border of three EU countries – the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. The development of this area has always depended on cooperation with neighbours. Whereas coal has played a marked role as a raw energy material. We can take this mutual dependence and connectedness as an inspiration for the pan-European debate on energy security.

Energy security now finds itself at the center of attention. No living organism can survive without energy. Without it, the structure of civilisation would quickly fall apart. Our freedom depends on energy and the last weeks have roughly reminded us of this. The problems of transit and diversification of sources of raw energy materials was discussed just three days ago at the Nabucco summit in Budapest. This conference has a different topic. But they cannot be separated from the question of our excessive dependence on imports of oil and gas.

A sufficiency of production capacity, robust transmission infrastructure and good rules for the internal market with electricity. Those are the topics of this conference and at the same time the necessary assumptions to reach our goals: Ensure citizens safe, affordable and stable supplies of energy. Fulfilling these assumptions will enable us to optimally make use of our own sources and with this decrease dependence on imports. Fulfilling these assumptions requires us to look at the European electricity market as a technological whole, which increases the awareness of the need for a common energy policy.

A number of excellent experts will appear at this conference. And I definitely do not want to predestine the results of your debates. I will only allow myself to pose a couple of questions, a couple of subjects that I consider important and which, I believe, will help your meetings to find answers and solutions.

As the name of the first block of the conference says, the internal market for electricity cannot function well without adequate production capacity. This is the great European weakness and the main cause of why on a liberalised market the price of electricity has not only not fallen, but was constantly rising until the crisis broke out.

It is therefore necessary to ask: How advantageous is it to supplement electricity sources? Which primary sources should we bet on, so that our self-sufficiency in electricity production is secured? How do we join efforts to decrease emissions with the necessity of lowering our energy dependence? What role should nuclear energy play? And what about renewable sources? What about domestic coal? And imported natural gas?

The topic of the common EU energy concept relates to all of these questions. This relates both to the securing of energy raw materials, and to their usage for the production of electricity and heat. Without a common energy policy, the unified market will remain only on paper, European solidarity will be an empty phrase and energy security a chimera.

Parts of the common European policy must include changes in European legislation which will enable the accelerated construction of new sources and line construction. Only a combination of enough sources and quality, properly-planned and functionally connected transmission systems will enable safe and stable supplies to consumers and the effective functioning of the common European market.

This gets me to the second part of the conference. We all have blackouts in our living memory, or situations on the edge, where existing transmission networks fail.

Are we prepared to boldly and quickly resolve this before many European households have to at least deal with a temporary "dark age?" How will we deal with the fact that we have created a common European market, but the total number of networks built primarily for national needs and uses, which mostly correspond to their technological level? When we remove the "bottlenecks" in the system, which are really preventing free trade, will it prevent the functioning of the pan-European electricity market?

I must say that I absolutely support the European Commission's intention to strengthen the renewal of energy systems as part of the Renewal Plan. I welcome that EUR 3.5 billion has been approved for energy development, which Wind power plants pose a major problem, especially in Germany, where they threaten the stability of the transmission network. It should be true that those who love wind power plants should also love new transmission lines. And also backup sources that can even out fluctuations in performance.

European legislation presents the specific but exceedingly important problem of a unified tariff for cross-border transmission of electricity. You will certainly discuss this proposal. The current status, where international transmission is literally free and the costs incurred by operators of the transmission systems are then complicatedly compensated goes against common sense. As part of the 3rd liberalisation package, the Czech presidency wants to resolve this issue as well.

This gets me to the third block of the conference, which is rules and institutions of the common market. I welcome the formation of an association of all transmission system operators (ENTSO-E), which has the correct ambition to coordinate rules on a European level and to create a unified technical code for the functioning of networks. I believe that soon the final technological barriers to the creation of a truly European market will fall.

A similarly useful step will be the creation of a business code, which the newly-created Agency for Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) will be in charge of, and we will hear more about this as well.

For the Czech Republic, I can say that our electricity market is completely open, and has been since 1 January 2007, or a half year earlier than the EU directives entailed. End consumers may use the possibility of changing electricity providers, and are beginning to do so. Unfortunately I must add that in the case of Czech customers the openness of the market is somewhat detrimental, because a lack of electricity in Europe virtually means that its price is increased.

In closing, please allow me to respond to three fundamental questions.

Do we want to ensure cheaper electricity and heat for our citizens? If so, we cannot bet on sources that will produce it more expensively.

Do we want to strengthen our freedom and independence? Then we cannot depend in large part on imports of oil and natural gas.

Do we want sustainable energy with low emissions? We cannot do so without the atom.

Maybe these sharply-formed conclusions overstep the mandate I have as the prime minister of a coalition government. Despite this, I have felt the necessity to speak clearly here. Not just as a person who has worked in the energy industry his entire professional life, but also as a politician who feels a responsibility for the future.

Thank you for your attention.