The EU-US Energy Council convened for the first time in Washington DC on 4 November, providing a new framework for bilateral talks on energy issues. The EU Commissioner for Energy, Andris Piebalgs, led a delegation to the US capital to discuss the framework that focuses on intensified cooperation for energy supply security, low carbon energy sources and energy technologies.

US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Swedish Minister for Enterprise and Energy Maud Olofsson chaired the meeting, which brought together the EU Commissioners for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Research, Janez Potocnik, and the US Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, and Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt.

The EU Presidency, currently held by Sweden, and the Commissioners will represent the EU in the Council, and the US Secretaries of State and Energy will represent the US. The Council will meet each year, alternately in the EU and US, and report to the EU-US Summit.

Scientific cooperation to foster development of low carbon energy technologies will be a key pillar of this new EU-US Energy Council. Commissioneer Potocnik pointed out that by including research in this bilateral cooperation, officials recognise how central a role science plays in addressing the challenges that the EU and US face, including sustainability and climate change.

Working groups comprising senior EU and US officials will collaborate with a focus on energy policies, global energy security and global markets as well as research cooperation for green technology.

Background

In a joint declaration presented at the EU-US Vienna Presidential Summit on 21 June 2006, both sides agreed to develop strategic cooperation on energy and energy security.

The creation and launching of the Council fuel this transatlantic cooperation. The two sides are already collaborating on a number of projects including the ITER project - a large-scale scientific experiment targeting the generation of commercial energy from fusion.