Former Polish Prime Minister and President of the European Parliament, one of the most active MEPs in energy matters, is ending his career in Brussels. During the last session of this term of the European Parliament, the MEPs bid farewell to the Polish politician with standing ovations.

Yesterday, the Civic Coalition, the largest party forming the coalition government in Poland, officially announced its electoral lists for the European Parliament. The name of 84-year-old Jerzy Buzek, who has been a member of the European Parliament continuously since 2004 and was its President from 2009 to 2012, was notably absent. Jerzy Buzek is one of the most recognizable and esteemed MEPs, having received multiple awards. In 2020, he won the annual “The Parliament Magazine” award, earning the title of MEP of the Year. In 2016, the magazine “Politico” listed him among the 40 most influential MEPs in the European Parliament “The 40 MEPs who actually matter”.

A farewell recording in the plenary, as seen by all MEPs, was shared on Twitter (X) by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.

In recent years in the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek has been involved in supporting the industry, including the offshore wind energy sector. Two years ago, he spoke in our columns about the decarbonization of the EU:

Electrification will most probably not be a silver bullet: it will not be in itself sufficient in decarbonising some of industrial processes or may not be the best for all transport solutions. In other words: we will not win only with electrification but we will certainly lose without it.

In 2022, the Parliament worked on a report on the EU’s strategy for offshore renewable energy, prepared and adopted by the Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy. The document was finally adopted. “Offshore wind energy needs “all hands on deck”. Firstly, it is about exploiting the potential of every European basin. I wanted the Baltic Sea to be mentioned in this context in the resolution of the European Parliament – this is what happened” Jerzy Buzek said in an interview with BalticWind.EU.

Earlier in 2021, the former Polish Prime Minister argued in an interview for BalticWind.EU that with the massive shift towards electrification of our energy systems, largely based on renewable energy production, the Baltic Sea offers a truly unique potential for countries in the region to transform their energy systems in line with the goals of the European Green Deal.

This is about offshore wind projects as mass scale renewable energy generation source; scaling up renewable hydrogen production as clean fuel of the future; advancing EU’s energy system integration in an unprecedented and innovative way through hybrid projects and integrated grid; putting in place new tools and mechanisms for joint investments in offshore projects and energy trade; developing a new approach to energy security, balancing and flexibility of our energy systems. If we succeed in all of this, Baltic Sea will greatly contribute to so much needed energy “wind of change” in the whole EU!

Let us recall, the European Parliament elections will take place between June 6 and June 9, 2024. Poland will elect 53 MEPs.