unimelb-nlp/MultiEup-v2 huggingface dataset:
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Valter Flego
Political group: Renew
Country: Sweden
Language: HR

Poštovani predsjedavajući, kada govorimo o energiji, u prošlosti malo je tko, vjerujem, tako ozbiljno o njoj razmišljao kao danas.  Bilo je energije, cijena je bila OK i nismo se puno opterećivali, ni građani ni gospodarstvo s energijom. Ja bih rekao da smo se previše opustili. To je sada jasno, ali od 24.2. i ovog nesretnog rata u Ukrajini svi smo odjednom postali svjesni važnosti energije. I naravno, svi smo počeli razmišljati o alternativnim izvorima, o solarima, o energetskoj obnovi zgrada i tako dalje. Ali, ne idu stvari posvuda u svim državama jednako brzo. Postoje, naravno, dokumenti Fit for 55, Green Deal i tako dalje, ali ponavljam, neke države zaostaju. Moja Hrvatska ne ide u tom smjeru tako brzo.  Zato moje pitanje, poštovana povjerenice, je da li ovo ljeto planirate iskoristiti za dodatne kontrole, za razgovore, za, ja bih rekao nadzor u državama članicama, kako ide provedba svih preuzetih obaveza oko povećanja energije iz alternativnih izvora upravo čim, čim prije, sada.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

That means that Member States also have to upgrade their plans by promoting renewables, but also taking measures that allow them to save energy, because at this very moment we do know that the only sustainable solution to replace the remaining Russian gas in our energy mix is to promote savings and also to promote renewables. So there is not enough natural gas and new natural gas developments coming to the market this year to replace gas from Russia with trusted partners production. So this is an ongoing process. Right now, all 27 Member States are upgrading their national energy and climate plans. Already last year they were very successful in installing new renewable installations and connect them to the grid and altogether we did see this installed new capacity in 2022: 41 GW of solar and, and 15 GW of wind respectively. This allowed us to save approximately 11 billion m³ of gas, so this is a significant development. And if Member States will achieve even higher targets this year, it allows us to tackle this this challenge that the remaining Russian natural gas in our grid still represents.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Valter Flego
Political group: Renew
Country: Sweden
Language: HR

Poštovani predsjedavajući, da, hvala na ovom odgovoru i vidim da vam je zbilja u fokusu ova tema i to me raduje.  Ali imam jedno kratko pitanje, evo za vas možda znate odgovor. U vašoj državi, ako bi vi, baš vi, kao građanin postavili na krov svoje kuće solare i dali zahtjev vašem isporučitelju električne energije da vas priključi, koliko bi to otprilike u vašoj državi trajalo, odnosno koliko bi vi kao građanin čekali odgovor i priključenje ?
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

Now, the question was, how long will it take in my home country? And I think that I come from a country where it is relatively fast due to the fact that our grid is digitalized and that allows distribution system operators to accommodate more renewables. So digitalisation is key. This is one of the challenges that many bigger Member States will face. But we will, from our side, promote that, and we will also advise Member States to use some of the recovery funds specifically to strengthen the grid, because this seems to be the next bottleneck after the permitting procedures.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Cristian-Silviu Buşoi
Political group: PPE
Country: Poland
Language: EN

Dear Commissioner, we should remain committed to our climate goals and also to the principles of the free market and competition. This past year and a half, when we have been living under extraordinary circumstances – with high prices of energy because of the pandemic, and then, of course, because of the market manipulation by Russia, and then because of the aggression of Russia against Ukraine – show us that we need to have instruments to intervene when there is clearly market manipulation and or high volatility.  I welcome the proposal that will be released today on EMD, and therefore some measures will have to be considered to better manage vulnerabilities and price volatilities. In your opinion, will EMD strike a balance between building a market, incentivising investments and low carbon solutions on one hand, and reducing volatility on the other hand?
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

From my perspective, I believe that the Commission has proposed some very effective provisions to reduce the weight of gas and electricity prices. One of them that should make the difference is that we propose a peak shaving mechanism to reduce demand at times in which gas is needed to cover it. And we already saw that our Article 122 proposal that addressed electricity price peak hours consumption allowed us to cut gas consumption. Of course, the other important part of this proposal is to empower the consumers to allow them to opt for different pricing contracts, even one designed for their domestic consumption, and another flexible contracting scheme, for example, to charge their electric vehicle. So in this proposal, there are several very practical provisions that will help our consumers already in a very short time frame.  But the only lasting solution, the only way how we can actually decrease our electricity prices in a sustainable way is to accelerate renewables. And there are some measures that we have to strengthen and we will address these measures exactly with our electricity market design this time.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Cristian-Silviu Buşoi
Political group: PPE
Country: Poland
Language: EN

Commissioner, you mentioned renewables and you also mentioned the debate last week in ITRE. Thank you for that, and for the very good cooperation with the ITRE Committee, which I chair.  You remember that we discussed a lot, and maybe the main obstacle is not the lack of investment, not the lack of interest, but the permitting and the bureaucracy in many of the EU Member States.  Besides what we are doing in terms of updating the legislation, do you intend also to put political pressure on Member States to move a little bit faster with permitting for renewables?
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

We will consult Member States and help them. I will give you as an example the offshore wind developments: how to strengthen the sea basins approach because it makes offshore projects more cost effective if Member States will not make the planning and permitting only for radial connections, but they will cooperate with their neighbours and allow wind farms to be connected to several markets. And of course, since we finalised our TEN-E trilogues, the Commission can also support financially the necessary grid developments that will connect big offshore wind farms to the mainland. That also helps project developers to fast track these investments. So my plea to Parliament: please prioritize also the Fit for 55 files that remain open and help us to conclude this ambitious agreement.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Costas Mavrides
Political group: S-D
Country: Latvia
Language: EL

Κύριε Πρόεδρε, η ενεργειακή ασφάλεια είναι σημαντικός πυλώνας για επίτευξη του στόχου μας ως Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης για στρατηγική αυτονομία. Σημαντική παράμετρος της ενεργειακής μας ασφάλειας είναι και η απεξάρτηση από αυταρχικά καθεστώτα, όπως αυτό του Πούτιν. Αυτό όμως σημαίνει ότι διαμορφώσαμε και ένα αυστηρό πλαίσιο κυρώσεων. Πώς μπορούμε να απεξαρτηθούμε από τέτοια αυταρχικά καθεστώτα, και όχι μόνο του Πούτιν; Και αναμένω την απάντησή σας στο κατά πόσον το καθεστώς Ερντογάν σήμερα εξυπηρετεί τα δικά μας συμφέροντα ή τα συμφέροντα του Πούτιν. Το δεύτερο μου ερώτημα: Τα κοιτάσματα του φυσικού αερίου στην Ανατολική Μεσόγειο είναι στρατηγικής σημασίας και για το μεταβατικό στάδιο, αλλά και για τη μείωση των τιμών για τους καταναλωτές, στην οποία προηγουμένως αναφερθήκατε. Αισθάνεστε ότι σήμερα υπάρχει τέτοια προτεραιότητα και πώς το τεκμηριώνετε; Με συγκεκριμένα παραδείγματα.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Rainer Wieland
Country: Germany
Language: DE

Vielen Dank, Herr Kollege Mavrides. Ich will mal darauf hinweisen, dass es sich um eine  Selbstverständlich ist die Frau Kommissarin frei zu antworten, aber die Antworten belasten dadurch den Zeitplan auch dann dementsprechend.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

Since the war started, we have addressed this challenge with many different legal proposals, but also by addressing our vulnerabilities, for example, giving a specific strategic position to underground gas storage. Because underground gas storage in Europe gives us assurance that no unexpected development against, for example, existing gas pipelines can impact us, or impact is limited. When we announced that we will replace two thirds of Russian gas by the end of 2023, then we were also very clear that we will not replace these 90 billion m³ of gas only with alternative gas suppliers. We were very successful. We attracted additional LNG shipments and trusted, reliable partners who were connected with Europe via pipeline – like Norway, Algeria, Azerbaijan, who uses a pipeline via Turkey – were able to increase shipments. This was accompanied by energy savings measures and by accelerating our renewables deployment.  This is our strategy for years to come. We will replace a significant part of lost Russian gas volumes by replacing gas in power generation with renewables, by replacing gas in the building sector with heat pumps, and by simply prioritising energy savings where we can.  So, wrapped up in short, we will never end up in a situation where we are so dependent on one single supplier. And by diversifying our energy sources, we will also take care of our security of supply and, in a broader context, our independence.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Costas Mavrides
Political group: S-D
Country: Latvia
Language: EL

Η ερώτησή μου θα είναι πολύ απλή. Θα ανέμενα να μας απαντήσετε κατά πόσον το αυταρχικό καθεστώς Ερντογάν έχει ευθυγραμμιστεί με τις πολιτικές μας σε σχέση με την ενεργειακή ασφάλεια. Είναι πολύ απλή η ερώτησή μου και αναμένω μια απλή απάντηση. Αν δεν έχετε απάντηση, πέστε το μας. Αλλά αναμένω μιαν απάντηση και όχι οτιδήποτε άλλο.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Marie Toussaint
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Hungary
Language: FR

Monsieur le Président, Madame la Commissaire, nous sommes ici dans un débat sur la sécurité énergétique de l’Union et donc aussi, en arrière-plan, sur la sécurité de l’Union européenne. Or, il y a dans la politique qui est menée aujourd’hui un point aveugle qui est celui de l’uranium en provenance de Russie. Les importations d’uranium naturel ont atteint 2 358 tonnes en 2021, pour un montant d’environ 210 millions d’euros, sans compter les 234 millions d’euros envoyés au Kazakhstan, où l’uranium est exploité par l’entreprise russe Rosatom. Pour la France, le pays dont je viens, c’est près de deux tiers de l’uranium enrichi qui nous vient de Russie et 43 % de Kazakhstan et d’Ouzbékistan, où travaillent également Rosatom ou ses filiales. Sans compter la dizaine de tonnes qui partent chaque année sous la forme de déchets vers la Sibérie, en Russie là également. Alors, je vous pose la question. On voit aujourd’hui un véritable élan pour l’énergie nucléaire dans la législation européenne. On l’a vu avec la taxonomie, on l’a vu avec le paquet relatif au gaz. On le voit dans les discussions en cours sur l’hydrogène, ou encore dans la directive sur la réforme du marché de l’énergie. On le voit peut-être même émerger dans le cadre des énergies renouvelables ou dans des projets comme celui de BarMar, véritable cheval de Troie pour l’énergie nucléaire.  Madame la Commissaire, ma question est simple: n’y a-t-il pas là une contradiction? Et comment répondre à cette question de la sécurité énergétique vu le contexte dans lequel nous sommes?
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

There are good examples that some of the nuclear installations that were previously using fuel from Russia have been able to replace it. And several companies have already notified us that they have started talks with alternative suppliers such as Westinghouse. To do so, my services will provide all the necessary assistance so that certification procedures to allow them to use alternative fuel will be smooth. And I think that this is a key that, also in the future, the nuclear power plants should be able to rely on several suppliers, not only the single supplier. Most probably you have heard that our Ukrainian partners have requested us also to address the dependence on Russian nuclear fuel. And we have. We have addressed this issue as a priority concern of ours. Right now, these five Member States, they do have sufficient fuel supply in their storage. But, as I was mentioning, in the coming months, they have to present their plans on how they will diversify away from Russian supply.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Marie Toussaint
Political group: Verts/ALE
Country: Hungary
Language: FR

Vous me répondez, Madame la Commissaire, sur la diversification de l'approvisionnement en uranium naturel et enrichi. Vous ne répondez pas à la question des déchets, et il y a en outre une autre menace pour la sécurité énergétique en ce qui concerne le nucléaire, qui est la question de l'eau.  Le nucléaire, c'est 150 à 180 litres d'eau pour produire un mégawattheure d'électricité. Et il suffit d'un court épisode de canicule pour rendre indisponibles jusqu'à cinq gigawattheures de puissance nucléaire, soit 8 % du parc français, qui est celui qui alimente le reste de l'Europe, sans compter évidemment que ça met en danger l'approvisionnement en eau pour l'agriculture ou simplement pour la consommation humaine.  La question de la sécurité n'est donc pas terminée, épuisée, une fois qu'on a réglé la question de la diversification des ressources en uranium. Je vous relance donc la question: comment sécuriser l'approvisionnement énergétique et la production d'énergie dans l'Union européenne dans un contexte de modèle énergétique reposant sur l'énergie nucléaire?
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

Member States who have opted for nuclear power plants can do so, of course keeping in mind the highest safety standards. My services – DG ENER units – will provide them with all the necessary assistance. Of course, we have to be ready since not only last summer, but the summer of 2023 might bring us extreme weather conditions. There are some predictions that we will face extreme drought this summer again. This just reminds us of the same challenges that we had last year: challenges with hydropower, very low hydro capacity and, on top of that, the possible impact to coal-fired power plants or nuclear. With our electricity sector and with our answer, we are mapping the summer challenges. This is regular work that we do, and very soon there will also be a risk assessment of what might await us in the summer this year.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Christian Ehler
Political group: PPE
Country: Spain
Language: DE

Herr Präsident, Frau Kommissarin, lassen Sie uns doch ein bisschen konkreter werden. Die Internationale Energie-Agentur hat eine Studie veröffentlicht, dass wir noch in diesem Sommer und spätestens im Herbst ein riesiges Problem haben werden, die Gasbestände in Europa wieder aufzufüllen, anders als im vergangenen Jahr, wo wir es immer noch über russisches Erdgas und über Flüssigerdgas (LNG) gemacht haben. Die Energie-Agentur hat hier konkrete Vorschläge gemacht.  Insofern ist meine Frage jetzt ganz konkret, und ich weiß, dass sich das auch auf die Mitgliedstaaten bezieht. Wir haben bei den Vorschlägen gehört, wir brauchen mehr Energieinfrastruktur – eine Vertiefung –; wir haben aber gesehen, dass in dem Resilienzfonds des großen EU-Programms keine einzige transnationale Infrastruktur ist. Das zweite Thema ist: Wir haben auf dem Markt LNG gekauft, was China im letzten Jahr nicht verbraucht hat, dieses Jahr aber absehbar verbrauchen wird. Und das dritte: Wir haben keinen Zugang zu russischem Erdgas. Also die Frage lautet sozusagen: Wie wollen wir ganz konkret über den Sommer bis zum Herbst die Speicher in Europa wieder auffüllen?  Eine letzte Frage: Sie haben sich auf Energieeffizienz bezogen. Die Mitgliedstaaten haben dem verbindlichen Energieeffizienzziel nicht zugestimmt. Insofern wird uns das Thema im Sommer nicht zur Verfügung stehen.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

I was mentioning earlier that that tomorrow you can hear from us another promising message on the joint gas purchase that also allows our companies, but not only EU companies, but also companies from Ukraine, Moldova and Serbia to pool together the demand and negotiate better prices. So this is ongoing work. We have mapped some of the missing links, but overall we will now prioritise cross-border electricity cables because we have to electrify. This is the way forward.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Christian Ehler
Political group: PPE
Country: Spain
Language: DE

Herr Präsident! Meine Frage bleibt ganz nah am Thema, weil es die gleiche Frage ist. Die Energie-Agentur hat ein  Die Chinesen haben erklärt, dass sie in diesem Jahr massiv den Einkauf steigern werden; das russische Gas wird nicht zur Verfügung stehen. Woher werden wir das Gas bekommen?
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

One of their new headline proposals is to prioritise energy savings because it was only 2021 when we received 155 billion m³ Russian gas. They cut it down significantly. Last year we were successful in replacing it with LNG, but also Norway and Azerbaijan scaled up their production and shipped it via pipelines. Now the remaining 60 will be very challenging to replace. Keeping in mind that Russia does not have alternative pipeline connections, the gas that they are not selling to Europe, they cannot sell to anybody else. That creates deficit in global markets. So, we cannot opt for a solution that we buy all the available LNG because that leaves third countries in a very difficult position where they have to replace gas with coal, and this is damaging. We will prioritise renewables. Where we can replace gas with renewables, we will do so. Smart solutions and all the solutions that help us to balance or to limit the peak hours, for example, in our electricity market, help us with almost no costs to cut gas consumption. Then, of course, renewables in the gas sector. You can expect that we will come out with a strategy to promote green gases, biomethane, because this is something that can also replace partially natural gas. This is also a great opportunity for our regions, but also for municipalities, who too have a responsibility to clean their wastewater, to cover some of their consumption, for example in public transport, with home-grown renewables, being it biomethane or, in the coming years, hydrogen.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Robert Hajšel
Political group: S-D
Country: Netherlands
Language: SK

Vážený pán predsedajúci, pani komisárka. Áno, za rok od začiatku vojny na Ukrajine sa úplne prepísala energetická mapa Európy. Určite je pozitívne, že Európa hľadala a aj do istej miery sa jej podarilo nájsť alternatívnych dodávateľov plynu. Tu sa chcem hlavne spýtať a pokračovať vlastne v logike tej predchádzajúcej otázky, keďže naozaj vieme, že táto zima bola k nám ohľaduplná, ale tá ďalšia nemusí byť. A tak isto ten LNG, čo sa týka tej Číny, tá bude určite viac prítomnejšia na tom trhu a dá sa povedať, že tie zásobníky, ktoré dnes stále sú naplnené asi na 55 percent, nebudú možno môcť byť doplnené do tých 90 percent do novembra. Aké máte argumenty? Ešte aj ďalšie, čo ste už spomenuli, že sa to podarí urobiť?
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

One of those measures was storage obligation. Right now, our underground gas storage is 56% full. This is double the volume that it was last year, and this makes it easier to refill by November. We have also set up the joint gas purchase platform. My colleague, Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, is in constant contact with private companies all across Europe who have indicated their interest to participate in this in this platform. And we have pooled together the demand.  The Commission, in cooperation with a service provider is working on the demand aggregation and a first tender for gas purchase will hopefully be launched very soon. That allows companies all across Europe, despite their geographical circumstances, to benefit from the EU negotiation power. And on top of that, we also witnessed last year that Member States are actually able to cut their gas consumption. We agreed that Member States voluntarily should introduce measures that allow them to cut consumption by 15%. In real life, they did more. They cut gas consumption by 19%. And now I will request Member States to prolong this arrangement because, as many experts are very clearly indicating, this winter might be even more challenging because there was some gas from Russia that we received last year that might disappear. And on top of that, last year, the weather was very mild. Nobody gives us guarantees that this will be repeated this winter.
Debate: Question Time  - How to ensure energy security in the EU in
Date: TUESDAY, 14 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Robert Hajšel
Political group: S-D
Country: Netherlands
Language: SK

Vážený pán predsedajúci, pani komisárka. Ja som bol zvedavý, že či by ste spomenuli popri týchto úsporách pri spotrebe plynu a samozrejme teda aj pri budúcej výrobe biometánu a vodíka aj možnosť obnovenia ťažby vlastného plynu v našej réžii. V Európe máme najväčšie zásoby, samozrejme v Holandsku, ale máme napríklad aj na Slovensku, kde sa kedysi plyn takisto ťažil. Považujete aj obnovenie a podporu, prípadne, samozrejmem za prísnych environmentálnych podmienok, za takisto jednu z možností, ako zaplniť túto existujúcu dieru v chýbajúcich množstvách plynu?