State Secretary Kuprešak participated in 12th Congress of National Forum on Croatia’s accession to EU dedicated to theme “What will the liberalization of the energy market bring”

Along with State Secretary Kuprešak, State Secretary at the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship Vladimir Vranković and the mayor of Varaždin Ivan Čehok also addressed the participants of the Forum with a brief introductory speech. State Secretary Kuprešak said that the priority of the energy policy of the European Union is to increase the level of security of energy supply, develop renewable energy sources and energy rationalization. State Secretary Vranković spoke of activities of the Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship connected to the liberalization of the energy market.

The Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Republic of Croatia Degert briefly presented new guidelines of EU energy policy and added that the objectives of the European Union are primarily directed towards securing sustainable development, fighting against climate changes, securing supply, and liberalizing the market. Regarding the progress of the Republic of Croatia in this field, the Head of the Delegation of the European Commission Degert stressed that in June 2006 the screening of the energy chapter was finished and that Croatia has fully harmonized its legislation with the legislation of the European Union in that field. The participants of the Forum were then shown video clips containing citizens’ opinions on liberalization of the energy market, the purpose of which was to provide an overview of the state of public awareness of the reform of the energy sector in Croatia, assessment of the quality of energy sources, and satisfaction with the Croatian companies from the energy sector.

The second part of the Forum included speeches about the influence of market liberalization on the price of energy, and representatives of various consumer protection associations got particularly involved in this debate. Along with the mentioned associations, the Forum in Varaždin brought together many representatives of the government administration and civil service, representatives of the local government, academic community, economic institutions, civil society, media, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations, and other subjects interested in the liberalization of the energy market.

National Forum on the Accession to the EU is an initiative of the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs and European Integration and the goal of this initiative is to raise the Croatian public’s level of awareness of this process in all parts of Croatia’s society.