Energy transition: how to foster European solidarity?
ConferenceLand-use planning and development
2026-06-23 | 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM | Amphitheater
Information
How can we overcome political divisions and promote cooperation for this major cause of general interest?
Week after week, the international context compels us to strengthen our energy sovereignty, review our governance, and build new alliances. How, in an unstable political climate, faced with the rise of extremism and dominant currents denying ecological realities, can we make the ecological and energy transition a European cause that transcends political divides?
This roundtable will examine the conditions for a much-needed European unity in the face of the economic and social challenges of the energy transition, and will place local authorities at the heart of the discussions. French, Ukrainian, Belgian cities… what if solidarity, in a context of armed conflict, were primarily played out at this level, sometimes transcending national guidelines?
The debate will also be addressed at the national level: should the energy transition be declared a major national priority? How can political discussions be shifted towards the search for long-term, structural strategies, without exploiting the energy transition as a factor of demobilization and social division? Here again, the role of local communities remains undoubtedly the appropriate level at which to act swiftly in the face of this urgent situation.
Speakers:
- Patrice VERGRIETE, Former Minister and President of the CUD (subject to confirmation)
- François REBSAMEN, former minister and President of Dijon Métropole (subject to confirmation)
- Bart Somers, Mayor of the city of Mechelen, Belgium (subject to confirmation)
- Serhiy MORGUNOV, Mayor of Vinnytsia, Ukraine
Animation: Carine ROCCHESANI
