Energy Dependency and Competitiveness

Abstract

The main emphasis in the development of the EU economy over the past decade is placed on two challenges - globalization and the ageing population. The common basis for an adequate response to these challenges is the competitiveness of the European economy. On the one hand, the energy as a polyvalent resource plays an important role in the improvement of the competitiveness of each economic system. On the other hand, the provision of the economies with energy resources, i.e. their dependence on imported energy resources, is different. The possibilities of an economic system to increase its competitiveness while reducing its dependence on imported energy resources is determined by the ability to increase the efficiency with which energy resources are used. Energy efficiency is becoming a bridge between the competitiveness of an economic system and its dependence on imported energy resources.