HE Richard L. Morningstar was once again our guest, for the 6th edition of Energy Strategy Summit, on June 30th! This is the message sent by HE Richard L. Morningstar, Former US Ambassador to the European Union and Founding Chairman of the Atlantic Council, prior to the event. HE Richard L. Morningstar participated in the final session of the Summit, for the Closing Remarks, in a dialogue with Mr. Niculae Havrileț, State Secretary in the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment. This top level 1 to 1 conversation was moderated by Mr. Valeriu Binig, Director of the Regulatory and Antitrust Affairs Department of Enel Romania.
Greetings to all of my friends in Romania!
I wish I could be there in person with you at your Summit! I would like to thank Varinia and Gabriel for inviting me to participate even if only on video and I would also like to send greetings to Alex Șerban who was our representative in Bucharest.
I’ll stop just by saying that I really believe that Romania has a critical role to play in Transatlantic energy cooperation. Romania is at a strategic interconnection point being on the Black Sea coast and being able to transit energy ultimately from the Mediterranean from the Caspian, as well as LNG could come into Romania through Greece and Bulgaria and then on to the rest of Central and Eastern Europe. Romania has also played a pivotal role in moving the Three Seas Initiative forward hosting a Three Sea Summit a couple of years ago, being one of the first to investors in Three Seas investment fund and really playing a very positive role with respect to that very important project.
I also should say that there are challenges that we have to address: the EU is shifting its emphasis away from gas infrastructure, Russia’s Turk Stream pipeline could jeopardize competition in the region, there is still uncertainty over resource development in the Black Sea and of course uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on future investment. But these issues can be mitigated in any number of ways.
The Atlantic Council issued a report a few weeks ago after an 18-month project on recommendations as to Transatlantic energy cooperation. These were recommendations to Brussels and to Washington Fenster as to how to move forward.
I guess first and foremost the thing that I would want to emphasize is that we need to work together to develop competitive and transparent energy markets. Gas is going to continue to be important for the foreseeable future to reduce overall emissions and further the conversion from gas to coal. Through regional cooperation such as the Three Seas Initiative this infrastructure can be developed and can play its necessary role in the region. It’s also important that we develop alternative resources from the Black Sea, from the Eastern Mediterranean, from the Caspian Sea as well as LNG which can come to Romania as I mentioned before through Greece and Bulgaria. We also have to work to make sure that the UE’s third energy package is effectively implemented and that Turk Stream and Gazprom follow the rules, if in fact Turk Stream is going to move forward. Finally with respect to these issues that I’ve just been talking about it’s important that there be a joint financing strategy and I’m happy to say that the United States now has a billion dollars which it can invest in Central and Eastern Europe. That billion dollars can be leveraged further through such things as project finance guarantees and the like. So there’s a real opportunity that the United States can put its money where its mouth is and participate in some of these very important projects. Romania is to be commended in various ways. The fact that interconnections have been developed with Moldova is incredibly positive. Moldova has been entirely dependent on Russian gas and now it won’t be. It’s also important with all the positive with respect to the BRUA pipeline that obstacles also be overcome including with respect to the Romania-Hungary interconnector. It’s also important to resolve all issues with respect to Black Sea development so that investors can be certain as to what their return is going to be.
Another area which I think it’s very important to cooperate on is the European Green Deal. Developing green technologies is essential to energy security because new technologies will increase sources of energy as well as lessen dependence on a dominant supplier such as Russia. In meeting climate goals we also need to ensure that there will be an affordable, reliable supply of energy. One way to get there is for the US and the EU, under the auspices of the Green Deal, to work together to develop new technologies such as hydrogen, carbon capture, battery storage, new nuclear technologies, artificial intelligence, digitization and more. With the right policies and a strong transatlantic cooperation Romania stands to be a regional leader in energy reforms and will be a leader in increasing overall European energy security.
I wish you the best of luck with respect to the Summit and again greeting to all my friends. I hope that you and your family and friends stay healthy as we move forward in this difficult world that we’re dealing with.
Thank you it’s been a pleasure to be with you even if by video.