14 April
“Zero-emission energy versus EU’s competitiveness and security” – parliamentary dimension of the Polish presidency
Under the motto “Zero-emission energy versus EU’s competitiveness and security,” on 14 April 2025, the Senate hosted the meeting of chairs of parliamentary climate and environment committees within the presidency of the Council of the European Union, held by Poland in the first half of this year.
The meeting was opened by the Marshal of the Senate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska; she emphasised that the energy transition is not only a climate or environment-related project, but a strategic one – it is the prerequisite for keeping the EU independent, as a strong and empowered actor on the international arena. “Only with a consistent policy towards greater independence from external raw materials providers, only with investments in renewable energy sources,
transmission infrastructure, and technologies of the future in the energy industry, will we be able to secure our societies against subsequent crises which, as proven by the recent years, are not of a matter of if but when,” she said. She explained that we could not allow our security and stability to be dependent on third countries, often non-democratic countries whose leaders do not share our values and goals, and that this very assumption was one of the most important pillars of our political sovereignty.
The meeting had three sessions which were moderated by Senator Stanisław Gawłowski, Chair of the Climate and Environment Committee. The topics were: “The Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal,” “The Clean Industrial Deal for EU Energy,” and “Zero-Emission Energy for EU Security.”
According to Marzena Czarnecka, Minister of Industry, without ensuring energy security, the energy transition cannot proceed. She added that Poland welcomed the EU’s Action Plan for Affordable Energy which is supposed to allow residents and entrepreneurs to lower energy bills even by EUR 260 billion a year by 2040. She added that from the Polish point of view, it is key that the energy transition is just, so that all Member States have access to financing which will support the transition.
As explained by Miłosz Motyka, Vice-Minister of Climate and Environment, the energy transition is for Poland the largest economic challenge for the upcoming dozen or so years. He pointed to the impact of decarbonisation for mining regions and the need to prepare a strategy for using miners in other industries. He said that Europe should reindustrialise. “Industry and new technologies should come back to Europe,” he added.
Senator Stanisław Gawłowski noted the role of parliamentarians in convincing citizens of their countries of the need for the energy transition. He believes that providing cheap, clean and secure energy in the EU is a tremendous challenge, given the lack of adequate resources to rise to the occasion, because it is the fight for the future of Europe. Referring to Mario Draghi’s report, he made the assessment that the decarbonisation strategy should drive EU’s growth. To implement it, however, we need political will and joint action of all EU Member States, and not competition against each other.
Jerzy Buzek, former Prime Minister of Poland and President of the European Parliament observed that in 2023, the European energy-intensive industry paid twice as much for energy than China and several times as much than the USA. He added that 6 in 10 European companies point to high energy costs as a barrier to investments, and that in order to maintain competitiveness, they require certain and affordable energy supplies. He also talked about the high cost that Europe incurs in importing fossil fuels, among others, from Russia, in the light of how much the Union spends on munitions. “We spend 2.4% of EU’s GDP on fossil fuel imports, and 1.9% on defence. We should swap these figures,” he announced.
Vice-Minister of Economic Development and Technology Michał Jaros emphasised that Europe must take care of industry policy and competitiveness of economies. It must also stop deindustrialisation. The Vice-Minister pointed to three aspects which EU must bank upon: lower and competitive energy prices, deregulation of EU provisions limiting industry growth, and development of new technologies.
Wojciech Wrochna, Vice-Minister of Industry and Plenipotentiary of the Government for Strategic Energy Industry declared his support for building an energy union based on mutual trust, a key element of which must be solidarity. He underlined that Member States should retain the right to shape their energy mixes, and at the same time respect the shared climate and economic goals. He spoke of the need to design solutions which support the development of renewable energy sources, offering electricity at low prices and strengthening energy security mechanisms. He pointed out that currently, over half of what EU pays in its electricity bills are additional costs, and not the costs of energy.
Małgorzata Bartosik, Vice-Director of WindEurope, recalled that for Russia, energy production is a weapon used to further its interests, engage in political blackmail, pressure other countries and instil divisions between and inside them. However, Europe’s reaction to the invasion of Ukraine showed that it is a double-edged sword. Despite the difficulties caused by the considerable increase in energy prices and jeopardised supplies, EU Member States have started to diversify their sources of raw materials to become independent from Russia. She pointed to the incredible technological progress made in the recent years which, thanks to the advanced technologies, allows us to turn away from supplies offered by authoritarian regimes.
The meeting was concluded by Senator Waldemar Pawlak, Chair of the National Economy and Innovation Committee, who said that the EU is not an empire hell-bent on world domination. It was established as a space for cooperation between countries, as a civilisation of fraternity of sorts. The idea of the European Green Deal invoked during the debate is essentially the idea of energy autonomy. There is no shortage of sun and wind, and since Europe has to buy fossil fuels often from autocratic regimes, it is all the more worth engaging in energy production based on renewable sources. Today, there are many opportunities in this regard, but flexibility of the energy system is lacking, and we have no capacity to store energy, even though we have the relevant technologies. In the Senator’s view, in the context of the current geopolitical rivalry, it is worth taking a look at Europe not as a rival of the United States or China, but just as another civilisation, one of fraternity and not domination.
Under the motto “Zero-emission energy versus EU’s competitiveness and security,” on 14 April 2025, the Senate hosted the meeting of chairs of parliamentary climate and environment committees within the presidency of the Council of the European Union, held by Poland in the first half of this year.
The meeting was opened by the Marshal of the Senate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska; she emphasised that the energy transition is not only a climate or environment-related project, but a strategic one – it is the prerequisite for keeping the EU independent, as a strong and empowered actor on the international arena. “Only with a consistent policy towards greater independence from external raw materials providers, only with investments in renewable energy sources, transmission infrastructure, and technologies of the future in the energy industry, will we be able to secure our societies against subsequent crises which, as proven by the recent years, are not of a matter of if but when,” she said. She explained that we could not allow our security and stability to be dependent on third countries, often non-democratic countries whose leaders do not share our values and goals, and that this very assumption was one of the most important pillars of our political sovereignty.
The meeting had three sessions which were moderated by Senator Stanisław Gawłowski, Chair of the Climate and Environment Committee. The topics were: “The Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal,” “The Clean Industrial Deal for EU Energy,” and “Zero-Emission Energy for EU Security.”
According to Marzena Czarnecka, Minister of Industry, without ensuring energy security, the energy transition cannot proceed. She added that Poland welcomed the EU’s Action Plan for Affordable Energy which is supposed to allow residents and entrepreneurs to lower energy bills even by EUR 260 billion a year by 2040. She added that from the Polish point of view, it is key that the energy transition is just, so that all Member States have access to financing which will support the transition.
As explained by Miłosz Motyka, Vice-Minister of Climate and Environment, the energy transition is for Poland the largest economic challenge for the upcoming dozen or so years. He pointed to the impact of decarbonisation for mining regions and the need to prepare a strategy for using miners in other industries. He said that Europe should reindustrialise. “Industry and new technologies should come back to Europe,” he added.
Senator Stanisław Gawłowski noted the role of parliamentarians in convincing citizens of their countries of the need for the energy transition. He believes that providing cheap, clean and secure energy in the EU is a tremendous challenge, given the lack of adequate resources to rise to the occasion, because it is the fight for the future of Europe. Referring to Mario Draghi’s report, he made the assessment that the decarbonisation strategy should drive EU’s growth. To implement it, however, we need political will and joint action of all EU Member States, and not competition against each other.
Jerzy Buzek, former Prime Minister of Poland and President of the European Parliament observed that in 2023, the European energy-intensive industry paid twice as much for energy than China and several times as much than the USA. He added that 6 in 10 European companies point to high energy costs as a barrier to investments, and that in order to maintain competitiveness, they require certain and affordable energy supplies. He also talked about the high cost that Europe incurs in importing fossil fuels, among others, from Russia, in the light of how much the Union spends on munitions. “We spend 2.4% of EU’s GDP on fossil fuel imports, and 1.9% on defence. We should swap these figures,” he announced.
Vice-Minister of Economic Development and Technology Michał Jaros emphasised that Europe must take care of industry policy and competitiveness of economies. It must also stop deindustrialisation. The Vice-Minister pointed to three aspects which EU must bank upon: lower and competitive energy prices, deregulation of EU provisions limiting industry growth, and development of new technologies.
Wojciech Wrochna, Vice-Minister of Industry and Plenipotentiary of the Government for Strategic Energy Industry declared his support for building an energy union based on mutual trust, a key element of which must be solidarity. He underlined that Member States should retain the right to shape their energy mixes, and at the same time respect the shared climate and economic goals. He spoke of the need to design solutions which support the development of renewable energy sources, offering electricity at low prices and strengthening energy security mechanisms. He pointed out that currently, over half of what EU pays in its electricity bills are additional costs, and not the costs of energy.
Małgorzata Bartosik, Vice-Director of WindEurope, recalled that for Russia, energy production is a weapon used to further its interests, engage in political blackmail, pressure other countries and instil divisions between and inside them. However, Europe’s reaction to the invasion of Ukraine showed that it is a double-edged sword. Despite the difficulties caused by the considerable increase in energy prices and jeopardised supplies, EU Member States have started to diversify their sources of raw materials to become independent from Russia. She pointed to the incredible technological progress made in the recent years which, thanks to the advanced technologies, allows us to turn away from supplies offered by authoritarian regimes.
The meeting was concluded by Senator Waldemar Pawlak, Chair of the National Economy and Innovation Committee, who said that the EU is not an empire hell-bent on world domination. It was established as a space for cooperation between countries, as a civilisation of fraternity of sorts. The idea of the European Green Deal invoked during the debate is essentially the idea of energy autonomy. There is no shortage of sun and wind, and since Europe has to buy fossil fuels often from autocratic regimes, it is all the more worth engaging in energy production based on renewable sources. Today, there are many opportunities in this regard, but flexibility of the energy system is lacking, and we have no capacity to store energy, even though we have the relevant technologies. In the Senator’s view, in the context of the current geopolitical rivalry, it is worth taking a look at Europe not as a rival of the United States or China, but just as another civilisation, one of fraternity and not domination.
