Establishing a permanent Balkan countries regulators forum is an important step towards institutional strengthening of the interaction between them. The forum aims to achieve harmonization of the legal regulatory framework of the countries through the exchange of regulatory experience with the aim of conducting a coherent overall policy for the creation of a regional gas and electricity market.
The participants in the regional meeting of Balkan Energy Regulators, which took place on 1 and 2 March in Veliko Tarnovo, united around this EWRC proposal. At a press conference representatives of FYROM, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia expressed their strong support for the initiative and their common expectation that this would stimulat efficient multilateral dialogue that would enable the structuring of important issues and develop joint solutions.
EWRC Chairman assoc. prof. Ivan Ivanov recalled that during the last two years the current composition of the Bulgarian regulator pursued a consistent policy of active bilateral cooperation and in that sense Bulgarian proposal to establish a joint Balkan Regulatory Forum is a natural next step to upgrade regional cooperation. "Our common wish to deepen the cooperation proves conclusively that the achievement of our common aims is possible only through active contacts. Thus a significant step will be made towards a harmonized regulative framework that will create opportunities for strong impetus to joint projects in the region in accordance with the requirements of the Third Energy Package, stressed EWRC chairman at the press conference.
In response to questions raised at the briefing, it was explained that the IGB project for Bulgarian-Greek interconnector Komotini-Stara Zagorа has the clear support of the two countries and of the EC and it follows the set deadlines for its launch. "Expectations are the start of the work to be placed in the middle of 2018, which opens new opportunities for enhancing the energy security of the region," said assoc. prof. Ivan Ivanov, PhD. This assessment was confirmed by a the board member of the Regulatory Authority for Energy of Greece (RAE), Apostolos Gotsias, PhD, who pointed out that the Greek side supports the project and there were no problems with its implementation with respect to deadlines and financing.
Earlier in the day the participants in the regional meeting were given presentations on the development of national gas markets in Bulgaria, Greece and FYROM. They discussed topical issues on gas infrastructure connectivity in the Balkans in the context of the European Energy Union strategy, and in particular the proposals to amend Directive 2009/73/ EC concerning common rules for the internal market in natural gas, as well as mechanisms for allocating capacity in new gas interconnectors between Member States and third countries. In a separate thematic panel the participants discussed the IGB project development for Komotini-Stara Zagorainterconnector as an important part of the Southern Gas Corridor construction, as well as overcoming the natural gas supply risks in the region and possible options for action. Within the second thematic panel of the regional meeting regulatory aspects related to the market coupling potential between the SEE electricity markets were discussed.
