Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome and thank our MEPs for coming before us and compliment them on their presentation. I will refer to two or three parts relating to energy policy, which is very important for Europe and each member state individually. What is the extent to which the witnesses believe, as MEPs, that Europe is progressing towards self-sufficiency with regard to energy needs, that it is energy secure, and how that is likely to happen? For example, how would it proceed with renewables and with an eye to less of a dependency on fossil fuels? What about the extent to which modern industrial and domestic requirements can be met by those alternatives? For example, there is a debate about nuclear energy, with countries in Europe going in opposite directions, so I would like to know what the witnesses think about that. I am not a great supporter of nuclear energy.