With the aim of strengthening cooperation among the think tanks of the Visegrad countries in the field of energy, as well as promoting dialogue between the academic sector and decision-makers in this area, four think tanks initiated the launching of the V4 Energy Think Tank Platform (V4ETTP) as a permanent think tank cooperation platform focusing on energy, operating from 2018.

The 2023 work plan of the V4ETTP emphasises regional solutions to the unprecedented energy market situation caused by the pandemic and the Russian aggression on Ukraine, but also on the challenge of the decarbonization of the economy. The partners focus on issues that enable the handling of the urgent energy price challenges and on issues that assist the elaboration of long-term energy transition solutions for the upcoming years, after the war, hopefully.

This workshop focused on two topics: the V4 countries’ reactions to the energy crisis and heating decarbonization. At the event, we welcomed the ambassadors and ministry representatives responsible for energy issues in the V4 countries to a high-level panel discussion to discuss the possible common V4 positions. We also discussed the above-mentioned topics based on draft working papers prepared by the think tank partners of the platform.

Speakers included:

Representatives of the V4 ministries:

• Urban Rusnák, Ambassador-at-Large for Energy Security, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Slovakia
• Petr Michalek, Economic and Trade Diplomat, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Budapest
• Jakub Gibek, Deputy Director of the Department of International Affairs in the Ministry of Climate and Environment, Poland
• Péter Holicza, Deputy State Secretary for EU Affairs & International Relations, Ministry of Energy, Hungary

Representatives of the V4ETTP think tank platform:

• Oldřich Sklenář, climate analyst, Association for International Affairs (AMO), Czech Republic
• Peter Kotek, senior analyst, Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research (REKK), Hungary
• Agata Łoskot-Strachota, senior fellow, Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW), Poland
• Veronica Oravcova, senior analyst, Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA), Slovakia
• Nolan Theisen, senior fellow, Slovak Foreign Policy Association (SFPA), Slovakia

Further participants:

• Csilla Bartók, Acting Head of Department Infrastructure, Gas and Retail, ACER
• Örs Ringhoffer, Head of Department, Energy Efficiency Department, Ministry of Energy, Hungary
• Ján Karaba, Director, The Slovak Association of the Photovoltaic Industry and RES (SAPI)
• Tomáš Matuška, Head of Research Department, University Centre for Energy Efficient Buildings of Czech Technical University in Prague
• Andrej Nosko, Visiting Researcher at Matej Bel University