EU Mediterranean countries pledge to create green energy hub

The energy ministers of the nine EU states in the Mediterranean committed to turn the region into a green energy hub as they held the first Med9 energy ministers’ meeting in Malta on Thursday.

The nine countries -- Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain -- signed the Malta Statement, launching a vision for the Mediterranean Region as a Hub of Green Energy. They see a potential for the Mediterranean to become a centre of renewable energy investments, with an emphasis on offshore renewables and new energy interconnections between EU and non-EU Mediterranean countries.

The Med9 countries plan to set up a steering committee to guide the work forward. They are also asking the European Commission to study the potential of green energy corridors connecting Europe with the renewable energy potential in North African countries.

In a statement issued by Malta energy minister Miriam Dalli, European Commissioner Kadri Simson, who attended the event, noted that the meeting took place on the first anniversary of the REPowerEU plan and that the Mediterranean saw record renewables deployment in the past year.

“Today this ambition was reconfirmed, and the Commission remains ready to assist where needed to help the Mediterranean region become a green energy hub," she added.

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