Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission: “We must examine security taking the energy factor into account”

"Security is not solved only with a military component; it must be considered from a broad perspective that includes the energy element”, said Teresa Ribera, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, at the 13th Annual Energy Conference organized by EsadeGeo, the EU Commission delegation in Spain and InnoEnergy.   

Today’s international landscape has “raw materials that are used for blackmail, submarine cables that break, and devastating effects caused by climate change,” said Ribera in reference to the current debate about security. “The peace effort that we thought was an everyday reality, has already unexpectedly and very painfully gone wrong in a country like Ukraine.”  

“We are at point when the geopolitical conditions around us are particularly surprising. We must decide whether to build a bridge across the ravine and continue creating well-being for Europeans or just give up and look away. The European Commission wants to tackle this issue with courage,” said the Vice-President at the event held on Thursday on the Esade Madrid campus.   

In response to current tensions, the EU representative believes that “the only possible solution is to continue advancing the idea of ​​building a European project based on a common market where borders and internal tensions must be overcome” and is committed to “preserving a multilateral system based on rules.” In this respect, the Vice-President emphasized her on-going support for the underlying concepts of the World Trade Organization.

Security, competitiveness and values: cornerstones of the European Commission

During the conference, Ribera put forward her Clean Industrial Deal vision and strategy, the main initiative of the European Commission in its first 100 days, which aims to address the urgent challenges facing companies, workers and policy makers in an increasingly complex global landscape.  

The Vice-President reminded the audience that “security, competitiveness and values”, the three main guidelines established for this tenure of the European Commission, are closely linked to the debate about the transformation of the energy system and making the most of the talent of Europeans in order to avoid missing opportunities. In this respect, she emphasized the role of industry and the need to “ensure that the savings of Europeans are invested in Europe” and not absorbed by a US financial system that decides what to invest them in.

On the other hand, the Vice-President highlighted that the green objectives said to be essential in the past have proven to be even more important today because they are the same vectors of European-style competitiveness, including decarbonization, the efficient use of resources, a reduction in the economic demands upon land and water, and the incorporation of the intellectual capabilities of Europeans into the transition.

She also highlighted the strengths of the European Union, such as its “educated societies, modern infrastructures and sophisticated business capacity”, enabling it to “plan medium and long-term strategies efficiently” in order to “activate all resources and modernize the productive fabric”. However, she warned that “the rest of the world continues to work and Europe must not lag behind.” 

The 13th Annual Energy Conference brought together dozens of business and public sector leaders under the theme “Clean Industrial Deal. Energy, Trade and Industry” to explore the medium-term impact of energy technologies, geopolitics and regulation upon business and society.

The session was opened by Javier Solana, president of EsadeGeo (the Esade Center for Geopolitics and Global Economy), who declared that he never thought he would see the scenario the world was now experiencing. He encouraged the European Commission to work hard and respond quickly to current challenges. “This will obviously be a time when we’ll have to react very quickly, but with great flexibility,” answered Vice-President Ribera during their discussion. The EsadeGeo president was accompanied during the opening by Elena Bou, Director of Innovation at InnoEnergy, and María Canal, spokesperson and press officer of the European Commission Delegation in Spain.

Ribera’s talk was followed by a discussion moderated by the director of EsadeGeo, Ángel Saz, about how Europe can balance industrial growth with sustainability in the current commercial scenario. Also taking part in the discussion were Antoni Ballabriga, global director of Sustainability Intelligence at BBVA; Jose Noldin, CEO of GravitHy Green Steel, and Blanca Perea, director of Regulation and Network Integration at Naturgy.