Ilmar Reepalu (European Socialist Party) is the Mayor of Malmö (SE) and Chairman of the Committee of the
Region’s ENVE Commission. This Commission allows representatives from local and regional authorities to discuss the
formulation of energy policies and to promote best practices
in these fields.
Michel Delebarre (European Socialist Party) is Mayor of
Dunkerque (FR) and Chairman of the COTER Commission.
This Commission enables representatives from local and regional authorities to discuss the planning and implementation of cohesion policies and to ensure that their concerns are taken up by other European institutions.
"Mr. Reepalu, from your point of view, what is the territorial dimension of the EU energy policy?"
"The EU energy policy requires Member States to increase the share of renewable energy production. This production needs to be optimised according to local and regional conditions, i.e. every region needs to get better at tapping into their natural sources. In order to achieve a stable, secure and sustainable energy supply, the production needs to be made available across Europe.
Cities and regions need become more active in seeing their very own potential for contributing to reaching the targets of the EU energy policy. In Malmö we have the ambitious goal to cover the entire city’s energy demand with renewable energy, with a high proportion produced locally and regionally, by 2030.
At the same time, cities need to become more active at identifying the potential for energy efficiency. Identifying measures to reduce energy demand in our own regions means finding low hanging fruits quicker and easier and thus opening up potential for investments for energy efficiency in the medium term."
"M. Delebarre, what is the energy dimension of the territorial policy?"
"I have always considered that the European Union has, to date, placed too much single emphasis on economic competitiveness and that it should give equal footing to the three pillars of sustainable development in its “EU 2020” strategy.
In this context and as President of the Committee of the Regions’ COTER, I am strongly promoting that this reform of the EU territorial cohesion policy really considers energy and quality of life issues as the core of urban policy definition. This will not happen unless the role of cities is truly acknowledged and resources are granted to cities by the EU in a contractualised, multigovernance logic. Such an “ideological” mutation of the definition of territorial cohesion is central for taking up the challenges that cities are facing, especially those related to energy. In short, energy is not a subsection of territorial cohesion but one of the key components of the territorial system."
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