Southeast Europe Energy Policy Officer
Email: pippa.gallop AT bankwatch.orgTel.: +385 99 755 97 87
Pippa works as Bankwatch Southeast Europe energy advisor, with a specialisation in coal and hydropower in the Western Balkans. She is based in Zagreb, Croatia and speaks English, Croatian and rusty German.
More from Pippa Gallop
After years of hydropower-related controversies, Kosovo’s long-awaited new Energy Strategy confirms that the government does not support new development in the sector, due to its environmental impacts. It also sends promising signals on carbon pricing and solar and wind development. Still, the country needs to avoid wasting money on coal and gas.
In December 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted an emergency regulation aimed at speeding up renewable energy deployment. But Member States have to uphold environmental safeguards and consult the public if they don’t want to end up doing the opposite, warns our new position paper.
This Wednesday, the European Parliament plenary will vote on changes to the Renewable Energy Directive. But the proposals seriously undermine environmental safeguards and set impossibly tight deadlines.
In their poorly thought-out regulation on renewables permitting, the Commission and Council are abusing EU emergency powers to trash key environmental safeguards and unleash legal chaos.
At last week’s Berlin Process Summit, President von der Leyen announced an energy support package of EUR 1 billion in grants to help the Western Balkans address the immediate consequences of the energy crisis. But will it end up being blown on pointless gas infrastructure?
