On 21 March 2011, in Brussels the extraordinary meeting of energy ministers convened by Minister of National Development Tamás Fellegi discussed the consequences of the North African events and the earthquake and tsunami that affected Japan. In the framework of the single agenda item, the participants discussed the current state of energy industry and the impacts of the recent events on the energy market. They exchanged views on the short, medium- and long-term responses required of the European Union and the Member States.

During the meeting the energy ministers agreed that the European Union’s urgent and most important task was to provide humanitarian and technical assistance.

Regarding the effects seen so far of the international events on the global energy markets and energy supply to the European Union, the energy ministers have established that the Member States were capable of successfully managing the impacts on natural gas and oil markets. They will keep closely monitoring energy markets and their impacts on the European Union.

In connection with the events in Japan, the participants unanimously welcomed the voluntary measures taken by the authorities and various industrial participants of the Member States in the supervision of the safety of nuclear facilities; and all of them voiced their support to the preparation and performance of a comprehensive safety assessment (stress test) of European nuclear power plants. The ministers agreed that well-grounded decisions required thorough analyses and surveys, and support was absolutely necessary to the full transparency of the Japanese situation analysis as well as the safety assessments to be performed in European power plants.

During the press conference that followed the Council meeting, it was pointed out that one of the most significant conclusions of the Council meeting was that Member States considered the performance of the voluntary safety check of nuclear plants and the related straightforward and frank communication as being in their common interest in order to reassure the population.

In a letter, minister in charge of energy Tamás Fellegi informed the General Affairs Council which prepared the European Council of 24-25 March, as well as the President of the European Council of the experiences of the extraordinary TTE Council meeting.

(Ministry of National Development , Department of Communication)