Sunday, 22nd November 2015
| 19:00 |
Welcome dinner (upon separate invitations) |
| Moderator: Ján Hudacký, Member of the National Council of SR (KDH), Chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee | |
| Key-note speech: Energy Union: a view from Germany Klaus Barthel, Member of the Bundestag (SPD), Deputy Chairman of the Economic Affairs and Energy Committee |
Monday, 23rd November 2015
| 8:00-9:00 |
Registration of participants |
| 9:00-9:15 |
Official opening |
| Dušan Chrenek, Head of the Representation of European Commission in Slovakia | |
| Alexander Duleba, Director, Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association |
| 9:15-9:30 |
Introductory remarks |
| Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic |
| 9:30-11:30 |
Panel I. Energy Union: headway and the V4 perspective |
| “Energy Union is the biggest energy project since the Coal and Steel Community,” said Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Energy Union when he presented the initiative on 25 February 2015. The Energy Union aims to improve energy infrastructure, to share available supplies across borders, end regulated pricing, increase the number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, improve electricity transmission networks, and enforce existing EU laws on competition. Energy Union strategy includes a number of measures and will be followed by legislative proposals. Following many experts, the European Commission will only be able to deliver a meaningful Energy Union if member states will play the ball. What is a face of affairs of the Energy Union and how is it seen from the perspective of the Visegrad countries? |
Chair |
|
| Pavol Demeš, Senior Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., and Board Member of the European Endowment for Democracy | |
Speakers |
|
| András Aradszki, Minister of State for Energy, Ministry of National Development of Hungary | |
| Lenka Kovačovská, Acting Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic | |
| Rastislav Chovanec, State Secretary, Ministry of Economy of SR | |
| 10:15 |
Key note speech |
| Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission for the Energy Union | |
| Q&A |
| 11:30-12:00 |
Coffee break |
| 12:00-14:00 |
Panel II. World Energy Outlook 2015 |
| The International Energy Agency’s annual flagship publication World Energy Outlook provides long-term projections under several policy scenarios based on indicators such as energy demand, production, trade and investment, types of energy sources and developments by world regions. Rising dependency on energy import, fierce competition for natural resources from emerging economies, insufficient electricity and gas interconnections, low investment and necessity to fight climate changes are certainly among the energy challenges that Europe has to face in the coming decades. What are the trends in global energy and their impacts on competiveness of the EU economy, and how should the EU and – in particular the Central European region – tackle them? |
Chair |
|
| Ingrid Brocková, Director General, Economic Cooperation Section, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of SR | |
Presentation |
|
| Pawel Olejarnik, Member of the WEO 2015 Team, International Energy Agency | |
Commentaries |
|
| Peter Baláž, Professor, University of Economics in Bratislava | |
| Jaroslav Žlábek, Director General, Schneider Electric Slovakia | |
| Marek Senkovič, Chief economic advisor to CEO of SLOVNAFT, Member of the MOL Group | |
| Q&A |
| 14:00-15:30 |
Lunch |
| 15:30-17:30 |
Panel III. The 2015 Paris Climate Conference: expectations versus implications |
| The annual Conference of Parties (COP21) starts on 30 November 2015 in Paris. The stakes are high: the aim is to reach, for the first time, a universal, legally binding agreement that will enable us to combat climate change effectively and boost the transition towards resilient, low-carbon societies and economies. The European Council agreed already in October 2014 on a framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030 which includes a binding EU target of an at least 40% domestic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990; an EU target of at least 27% for the share of renewable energy consumed in the EU in 2030; and an indicative target at the EU level of at least 27% for improving energy efficiency in 2030 compared to projections of future energy consumption based on the current criteria. What are the expectations regarding the outcome of the 2015 Paris climate conference and how will it influence the EU position? What implications will it have for the EU energy policy and energy system? |
Chair |
|
| Lívia Vašáková, Economic Counsellor, Representation of the European Commission in Slovakia | |
Speakers |
|
| Thomas Spencer, Programme Director Climate, Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) | |
| Mary Veronica Tovšak Pleterski, Director, Directorate B European and International Carbon Markets, DG CLIMA | |
| Thomas Meister, Director, Director for Climate and Environmental Policy, Federal Foreign Office, Berlin | |
| Norbert Kurilla, Director General, Directorate for Environmental Policy, Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic | |
| Raffi V. Balian, Director of the U.S. Department of State Regional Environment, Science, Technology and Health (ESTH) Hub Office in Budapest | |
| Cao Yuan, Director, Project Development Office, International Green Economy Association (IGEA), Beijing | |
| Miroslav Kiraľvarga, Vice President, External Affairs, Administration and Business Development, U.S. Steel Košice, s.r.o. | |
| Discussion |
| 18:00 |
Dinner sessions (upon registration of participants) |
| See complete list of dinner sessions |
Tuesday, 24th November 2015
| 9:30-11:30 |
Panel IV. Regional integration of gas markets and security of supply |
| Prime Ministers of the V4 countries adopted a “Road Map towards the regional gas market among Visegrad 4 countries” in Warsaw on 16 June 2013. What are the key challenges in carrying out the market-coupling of national gas markets of the V4 countries? Representatives of the Ukrainian government declare their interest in joining the project. What should be done in order to integrate Ukraine with the V4 gas market? The debate about diversification of gas supplies for the region of Central Europe has started after the gas crisis in 2006 and 2009, and again, after the Russian-Ukrainian crisis in 2014-2015. In January 2015, Russia’s Gazprom further announced that it will stop transiting natural gas through Ukraine and urged its European customers to link up with a future pipeline to be built in Turkey or lose access to supplies of Russian gas. The development of interconnection and transmission capacities between Central and South Eastern Europe should be given a priority in order to strengthen the security of future supplies for the V4, Ukraine and the Balkan countries. |
Chair |
|
| Ján Klepáč, Executive Director, Slovak Gas and Oil Association | |
Speakers |
|
| Tomáš Mareček, Chairman of the Board of Directors, eustream, a.s. | |
| Andriy Kobolyev, Chairman of the Board of Directors, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine | |
| Ciprian Octavian Alic, Director, EU Funds and International Relations, TRANSGAZ, S.A. | |
| Adam Marzecki, Manager in the International Projects Department, Development Division, GAZ-SYSTEM S.A. | |
| Michael Kehr, Director, Business Development, NET4GAS | |
| Janez Kopač, Director, Energy Community Secretariat, Vienna | |
| Discussion |
| 11:30-12:00 |
Coffee break |
| 12:00-14:00 |
Panel V. Market-coupling of electricity markets |
| Market-coupling between the Czech Republic, Slovakia (2009), Hungary (2012), and Romania (2014) created the basis for building a regional market with electricity in Central and South-Eastern Europe. What are the experiences with functioning of the market-coupling from the point of view of operators of the transmission networks (ETSOs), market operators (MOs) and regulatory authorities? What is the perspective of other countries from the region in joining the integrated CZ-SK-HU-RO electricity market? What are the biggest obstacles for expanding a regional electricity market? |
Chair |
|
| Konstantin Staschus, Secretary General, ENTSO-E, Brussels | |
Speakers |
|
| Walter Boltz, Vice-Chair of the Board of Regulators, ACER, and the Executive Director of the E-CONTROL | |
| Michal Cabala, Chairman of the Board, OKTE, a.s. | |
| Jíři Strnad,Director, International Relations and Trade Services, ČEPS, a.s | |
| Kornél Czinege, Chief Commercial Officer, MVM Partner Ltd. | |
| Piotr Wozniak, Advisor to the Management Board, TGE Polish Power Exchange S.A., and the Vice-Chair of the Administrative Board of ACER | |
| Q&A |
| 14:00 |
Concluding remarks |
| Alexander Duleba, Director, Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association |
| 14:20 |
Lunch |