Financial and social aspects of developments and liberalization in EU energy markets

Prof. Nela Vlahinić Lenz PhD - EFRI
Tanja Fatur Šikić, PhD - Primorsko Goranska County
Nataša Munitić - Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, PhD student EFRI
Ivan Gržeta - EFRI, PhD student EFRI
Marin Antunović - Croatian Transmission System Operator, PhD student EFRI
Bojan Tomić - HEP Inc, PhD student EFRISummary

The economic effects of reforms in the energy sector will be explored, given that the process of restructuring, liberalization and privatization is still ongoing, both in the Republic of Croatia and in the EU countries. Although the reforms started in the 1990s, they have not come to an end, and even the most developed members of the EU have not fully implemented EU directives related to the single electricity and natural gas market. A new energy package of laws is being prepared, which will significantly affect the dynamics and direction of restructuring and liberalization of the electricity and natural gas market, both in the EU member states and in the countries of Southeast Europe - signatories of the Energy Community Treaty. These countries are also obliged to apply EU energy directives although they are not EU members, and the potential for implementation is conditioned by institutional and macroeconomic constraints. Given the great changes expected in energy and all other sectors due to energy transition towards the low-carbon future, the research area also relates to the current energy efficiency issues in EU countries. Furthermore, changes will be analyzed in the portfolio of primary and secondary energy sources in the "new" EU countries, given the growing importance of natural gas and its derivatives. The key area of ​​the analysis relates to the opportunities created by the development of technologies that enable the transport of gas with the use of other logistics infrastructure other than gas pipelines. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe are particularly interested in possible alternatives since natural gas could only be transmitted through the gas pipeline, since the Soviet Union then effectively separated this part of Europe from alternative supply routes. Since the construction of a new gas infrastructure is a long and expensive process, the development of LNG and CNG technologies that allow to overcome this obstacle is an extraordinary opportunity to improve the energy security of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It will be analyzed how European countries have come to this and what is expected in the future.