Energy security means regular meeting of the energy requirement at sustainable, environmentally-friendly conditions and prices which do not slow down economic development and do not jeopardize the living standard of citizens, said Vice Premier for Economic Affairs Vladimir Pesevski on Wednesday.

He told a seminar focusing on energy issues, organized by the German and French Embassies to Macedonia, that one of the main challenges is to harmonize the energy sector with the EU targets, including the opening of the energy market, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, increase of energy efficiency, use of gas and renewable energy sources.

"This includes the projects for increasing the availability of all types of energy at competitive prices, primarily the completion of the inter-connection projects for Macedonia's inclusion in neighboring electricity and gas systems. These are the new recommendations for all EU states, upon a proposal by the Energy Union", said Pesevski and added that continuation of the gasification process is one of the future priorities.

According to him, the energy security requires increased diversity of energy resources, an active role of the regional energy market and the European Energy Community.

"Greater diversity will increase competitiveness, thus securing safe energy supply and sustainable prices. In this regard, the Government is making efforts towards maximum use of domestic resources and a strategic long-term policy of joining main energy streams in the region and beyond", said Pesevski.

He stressed the Government's main goal over the years has been to provide safe and quality energy supply, with measures and activities undertaken to achieve this goal in the future too.

"In the coming period we expect implementation of the third package of the EU legislation on internal energy market, which is set to provide increased independence of transmission system operators, strengthen the role of the Energy Regulatory Commission and introduce specific measures towards defining the concept of vulnerable consumers and their support. Further liberalization will develop in five stages, with full liberalization achieved by 2020", added Pesevski.