Walter Boltz talks solidarity in European gas policy | Energy Today with JM Glachant

The Florence School of Regulation presents: Jean-Michel Glachant's Energy Today no.017 16 July 2015 recorded online Walter Boltz is executive director at E-Control, Europe’s leading gas regulator. Here he talks with Jean-Michel Glachant about the nature and benefits of solidarity in European gas policy. “…I don’t think that in the foreseeable future Europe will be speaking with one voice, because the actual interests of European counties varies widely.” “There is this principle of solidarity but as the discussions bout the restructuring of Greek debt has shown, there are limits to solidarity and the solidarity levels is seen differently in different regions in Europe. I think what has become clear in the gas world is that certain amount of solidarity is in the interest of everybody because individually we are weaker than jointly. ” “The stress tests have shown that if everybody tries to optimise his own national situation, the overall a significant number of citizens will be denied gas access. Whereas if we share the resources we have, then almost everybody is better off.”