Albania signs new electricity, gas contract with European Commission

TIRANA, Jan. 25 – Albania as part of MEDREG, the Association of the Mediterranean Regulators for Electricity and Gas, has signed a new service contract with the European Commission for the period 2010-12.
Global Arab Network received a press release from the Association said the European Commission’s continued support to MEDREG was not only due to the very good results of the first contract (2008-09), but also to the aims of the Association, which are to promote the achievement of a consistent, harmonized and investment-friendly regulatory framework in the Mediterranean energy market.
The actions of MEDREG, in collaboration with the European Commission, are expected to provide benefits to energy consumers of the Mediterranean region, and are seen as crucial to enable a permanent, stable and strong collaboration among Mediterranean energy Regulators.
MEDREG will also focus on promoting the exchange of know-how and expertise and will do so through specialized training and studies in the field of energy regulation, notably in collaboration with the Florence School of Regulation (FSR), created by the CEER (Council of European Energy Regulators) and the European University Institute, and with the support of the European Commission.
The regional approach is seen by MEDREG as the necessary starting point of cooperation on energy regulation, in the perspective of an integrated and efficient regional market that requires modernization of existing infrastructure and activation of new grids, as well as the setting up of a legislative and regulatory framework for energy that is as harmonized, coherent and stable as possible.
This is of fundamental importance for the long-term stability on which investments are so strongly dependent.
The new MEDREG-European Commission contract will be carried out taking into consideration the objectives already achieved in the last years and the ones foreseen by the MEDREG Action Plan 2010-2012, that was adopted by the MEDREG General Assembly in November 2009 in Nicosia.
Currently 20 Mediterranean countries (in total 22 National Regulators) belong to MEDREG: Albania, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.