European Commission
Oettinger

The EU-China bilateral relations are growing in breadth and depth through the inclusion of many new key areas of cooperation. Vice-Premier Li's visit to Brussels provides an important opportunity to further strengthen the EU-China partnership, takes stock of progress in the implementation of the 14th EU-China Summit held in February 2012 in Beijing and prepares the next Summit to be held this autumn in Brussels.

The Helios project and the role of energy for Greek and European growth

Günther Oettinger will be in Athens on 3rd April to attend the High Level conference "Renewable Energy and Infrastructure Development in South-eastern Europe and the Helios Project”.

Günther Oettinger said "Only a new energy model will make our system secure, competitive and sustainable in the long-run. We now have a European framework for the necessary policy measures to be taken in order to secure the right investments."

- Stress tests well on track

- EU will give extra €500 million for the decommissioning of old Soviet type nuclear reactors

Günther Oettinger said "Today, most oil and gas in Europe is produced offshore, often in harsh geographical and geological conditions. Given our growing energy demand, we will need all the oil and gas from beneath our seas. But we need to prevent accidents like Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico from happening. Securing best industry practices in all our offshore operations is an undisputable must. Today's proposal is a crucial step forward towards safer offshore activities to the benefit of our citizens and our environment."

The European Commission has today tabled a plan which will fund €50 billion worth of investment to improve Europe's transport, energy and digital networks.