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Every EU member has right to meet energy goals in its own way: Slovak official

Xinhua, July 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Every EU member state has a right to use their own way on how to adopt to climate change and meet energy agenda targets, said Slovak Economy Minister Peter Ziga here on Wednesday.

The words of Ziga came at a press conference following an informal session of EU ministers of energy and climate change on Wednesday in Bratislava.

The first item on the session's agenda was energy charges and their impact on EU competitiveness. The second half of the talks revolved around the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG), underground gas reservoirs and their contribution towards EU energy security.

According to Ziga, EU member states concurred in the need to draft comprehensive analyses on the impacts of all newly-approved measures, particularly with an eye towards the competitiveness of European companies.

"We emphasised that every country has a right to choose own measures in order to meet climate-related and energy aims, in line with the principle of technological neutrality," said Ziga.

He added that the EU must continue the construction of infrastructure connections to that end and develop dialogues with third countries on a global scale.

LNG represents an "area with significant potential" for the EU. "This issue was discussed at the highest political level for the first time here today in Slovakia," said Ziga.

He stressed that carrying out measures designed to diversify gas sources via LNG is necessary for member states and important particularly in terms of energy security. Endit