The energy policy situation in Central Europe is tenser than ever before and has a significant impact on our lives. On the one hand, the European Union has long been pushing for an increase in the proportion of energy from renewable sources; on the other hand, we urgently need to free ourselves from dependence on Russian gas in terms of democratic values and moral conscience. Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland share a common cultural and economic area. Energy policy is one of THE key issues, not only but above all for the three-country region.

This was the starting point for the Trilateral Dialogue that took place in Zittau last November.

Not only the different energy policy approaches of the three countries Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland were discussed, but also the future opportunities of new technologies.  

Opportunities for closer cooperation in the region were discussed using the example of the large-scale lignite-fired power plant in Turów. Both regional and European perspectives on the topic of energy security were exchanged in two panel discussions.

In the first panel, the panelists discussed current challenges and problems in the regional energy sector. Gregor von Kampen-Banisch (PL), President of the Centre for Renewable Energies, emphasized the necessity of expanding renewable energies for a future-oriented energy policy and its as yet untapped potential for the Polish border region. However, this is associated with a necessary network expansion and network stability, for example in order to focus on green hydrogen in a future-oriented manner.  Martina Jakl (CZ) from the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce referred to the many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are currently not sufficiently prepared for the current energy crisis and are facing enormous economic challenges, some of which threaten their existence. This places a heavy burden on the economic development of the North Bohemia region and prevents small and medium-sized enterprises in particular from making the necessary progress.

Andreas W. Poldrack (DE) from VEE Saxony sees a similar development in Saxony and attributes this to a misguided policy in the expansion of renewable energies, as the focus has been on personal responsibility for too long and the expansion has not been actively promoted accordingly. During the discussion, it was thus emphasized that the entire three-country region must focus more strongly on the expansion of renewable energies and that regional experiences from other border regions must be made more accessible via information and networks in order to benefit from the experiences of the neighboring region. In addition, hydrogen was identified as a future storage technology with great potential for transnational cooperation. This is where the development of a regional hydrogen strategy that focuses on the entire three-country region must begin. However, citizens must be actively involved, confidence-building measures for the respective energy strategies of the countries must be explained in more detail and discussed more visibly in public in order to build trust.

The second panel discussed energy policy in the area of conflict between European and national objectives. By way of introduction, the experts assessed previous energy security policies from a national perspective and examined the extent to which a pan-European energy security policy is necessary and what form it should take. This created an understanding of the respective national energy strategies of the individual countries (DE/PL/CZ) and the panellists emphasized the importance of a mutual understanding of the different priorities within national energy policy. In addition to the unanimous need for further and stronger expansion of renewable energies, the future viability of nuclear power for CO2-neutral energy generation was also addressed and discussed. A role is also attributed to green hydrogen as a future technology and storage technology. Adam Blazowski (PL), energy expert from FOTA4Climate in Poland, emphasized the need to prioritize the use of hydrogen for the decarbonization of the fertilizer industry instead of burning it only for energy production.

The EU Green Deal should include all low-carbon energy sources. As the EURATOM Treaty is one of the founding documents of the EU, countries should have the freedom to choose their own decarbonization pathways as long as they can meet the targets set.

Nicola Beer, MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament and member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, emphasized in her key note speech two necessary approaches to implement a long-term energy market reform. Firstly, she emphasized that it is necessary to become more energy efficient and secondly, that energy imports must be restructured. To increase energy efficiency, the European Parliament is currently working on the "European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive" (EPBD)  and the "Energy Efficiency Directive" (EED) has already been voted on in Parliament in September and the trilogue negotiations have begun. Nicola Beer also emphasized: "Restructuring our energy imports is not enough: we need to reform the entire market mechanism and its offers." In addition to RePowerEU and the idea of an internal energy market, Ms. Beer sees the opportunity to quickly fill missing energy capacities with renewable energies and more environmentally friendly energy supplies.

With the help of the World Café format, the conference participants were able to enter into a direct exchange with the panelists and experts from Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. Under the moderation of Karolin Gröschl (DE) from the Energy Innovation Campus in Görlitz, topics discussed included the affordability of energy, the compatibility of ecological goals and economic necessities, job security and the technical dimension as well as local, regional and European implications regarding the challenge of the Turów dispute as a challenge for the three-country region. Michaela Kabáčová (CZ) from the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, for example, addressed the Czech position within the action before the European Court of Justice in the Turów case, Agnieszka Spirydowicz (PL) from ZKlaster in Poland discussed the potential of cross-border regional projects, Martina Jakl  (CZ) from the Czech-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Prague presented economic perspectives for the region from an entrepreneurial perspective, and Prof. Dr. Karel Frana (DE/CZ) from the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Prague presented economic perspectives for the region. Karel Frana (DE/CZ) from the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences addressed technical and technological perspectives for future energy security in the region. The results of the discussion were summarized in seven snapshots in the form of a graphic recording.