Webinar IENE: Energy Security in SE Europe and the East Mediterranean

Announcement

IENE Webinar on Energy Security in SE Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean

Over the past years IENE has been covering extensively and consistently energy security issues through newsletters, relevant studies, conferences, and seminars. On Tuesday, December 19, 2023, the Institute convenes a special webinar on “Energy Security in SE Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean”. The main purpose of the webinar, which will be held online between 16.00 and 18.00, is to examine and analyze the latest geopolitical developments and their impact on energy security in the wider region of SE Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean amid two ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Europe’s energy security remains a key concern despite the progress the region has made in weaning itself off Russia’s gas imports. Throughout 2022 and 2023, European countries have significantly increased their reliance on alternative energy sources, reducing their dependence on Russian natural gas and swiftly replenishing their gas storage levels.

At the same time, the relatively mild weather last winter meant demand for fossil fuels remained low, helping with the energy transition efforts in many countries. Also, the timely filling of underground gas storage facilities last summer in most countries has helped ensure adequate stock levels. However, pressing questions remain on whether all these preparations will be sufficient to face the coming months and the next years. Will Europe be able to tackle the potential challenges that the energy market could pose in 2024 and beyond? In view of fears that Europe could run out of gas in 2022 after Russia cut gas exports following the start of the Ukraine conflict, today its energy position has been looking much more stable.

Norway has partly replaced Russia as the largest gas supplier, while a combination of mild winter temperatures, lower energy prices and the boost of liquified natural gas (LNG) imports from international suppliers, including the US, ensured Europe survived the past winter and could plan ahead. However, the extra cost most countries had to pay was substantial resulting in heavy government subsidies.

By and large, this year the EU is better prepared — but now a second war also threatens to roil its energy markets. The conflict between Israel and Hamas threatens to disrupt Europe’s relationships with the Middle East, or even draw Iran into direct confrontation with Israel and its Western partners. While markets are relatively calm for now, either of those scenarios could cause chaos. Nevertheless, Europe is “equipped to face oil and diesel global market tightness,” Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson recently told. Officials have learned lessons from Russia’s war on Ukraine and are working to build “a good understanding of all our vulnerabilities to best address them and how we can be prepared for any incidents or emergencies”.

IENE’s timely webinar comes to highlight the vital role that the south-eastern part of Europe can play, in terms of gas supply, as a regional energy hub in the coming years, in the midst of a geopolitically fragmented world, where two wars are now underway, raising wider issues of security of energy supply.

Several well qualified speakers from across the region will participate and exchange views and information on current issues and future challenges.

Privacy Policy - Use of cookies

IENE, commits to protect the personal data of the visitors/users of iene.eu and to abide by the relevant regulations of the European union legislation, among others, the General Data Protection Regulation (EE/2016/679), and the Greek legislation, as for example legislation 2471/1997 “for the protection of Individuals with Regard to Processing of Personal Data”, as applicable, or the directions of the Personal Data Protection Authority. Therefore there are no personal data gathered from the visitors/users unless they are given by them voluntarily. In order to simply visit www.iene.eu no personal data are required.

1. Personal Data - Order Placement

In order to place and complete an order at iene.eu, the visitor/user necessarily gives the following personal data: name, surname, email address, telephone number. The visitor/user is not obligated to give these personal data, but without them his/hers order cannot be completed and processed. By filling in his/hers personal data the visitor/user gives his consent for their use by IENE, as controller of data processing, through automated means either by IENE, or by any other person appointed by IENE to process the data upon its orders and on its behalf.

2. Personal Data Processing

The above mentioned personal data will be kept by IENE in a data base on a server and will be processed for the sole purpose of providing the sales service of www.iene.eu to the visitors/users, and more specifically to process the order, deliver the purchase and keep a record of it. IENE retains the right to process part or all of the personal data given by the visitor/user for statistic and financial reasons, for improving its service and information.

3. Personal Data Security - Obligation

IENE commits not to sale, transfer, publish, in general convey in any other way the personal data collected through www.iene.eu, unless it regards relevant provisions of the law and it is required by eligible authorities. IENE reserves the right to inform its suppliers with statistic and sales reports, which do not in any way contain information that could lead to the identification of any visitor/user.

4. Visitor/user rights

The visitors/users as well as any person that gives their personal data to iene.eu website have the right to ask and receive from IENE the following information:

  • All the personal data that concern them, and where they came from
  • The reasons for processing the data, any receivers of the data or the categories of receivers
  • The progress of the data processing since the last time the visitor/user was informed
  • The logic involved in the automatic processing
  • The correction, deletion, or allocation of the data that are kept in the archives and which have been not lawfully processed
  • The notification of such correction, deletion, or allocation of the data to the third party to which the data have been communicated, in case this is feasible

They also have the right to oppose personal data processing in writing by making a claim for a specific course of action such as correction, temporal pause of their use, allocation, deletion. They also have the right to oppose to any kind of commercial use of their data. Moreover they have the right to receive their personal data in a usable and legible (by a pc) interoperable format and to forward them to another processor. In order to exercise these rights they can write to the following email address [email protected]. 

The visitor/users can exercise their abovementioned rights by addressing a claim to to which IENE will respond without charge, and without delay and in any case within thirty (30) days from the date the claim was sent. In exceptional cases the aforementioned period of time can be extended by two months, if it is required, taking into consideration the complexity of the claim or the high number of claims. IENE will let the visitor/user know in case an extension is needed and the reasons for it, within one month’s time since the receipt of the claim.

In case IENE cannot satisfy the claim, the company will notify the visitor/user without delay, within one month the latest from the date of the receipt of the claim. IENE will mention the reasons that explain the inability to satisfy the claim, and will notify the visitor/user of the possibility to file a complaint at the Personal Data Protection Authority and the right to appeal to the judicial authorities.

7. Procedure for making a complaint

In case the visitor/user believes that his/hers rights concerning the protection of personal information is infringed, he/she reserves the right to file a complaint at the Personal Data Protection Authority (1-2, Kifissias av., 115 23 Athens, tel.: 2106475600, email: [email protected]). Moreover the visitor/user has the right to appeal to the judicial authorities for the protection of their personal data.

8. Security measures

IENE has taken all the appropriate technical and organisational measures in order to secure the application of the law and the appropriate level of security for the visitor/users’ personal data. IENE has also trained accordingly the staff and keeps each and every employee who acts in the company’s behalf as Data processing operator under agreements that contain the guarantees and assurances of the General Data Protection Regulation.

9. Non personal data - the use of cookies

Apart from the abovementioned personal data, when a visitor/user visits www.iene.eu, the site collects data that are necessary for showing the content of the site to the visitor/user. More specifically, every time a visitor/user visits www.iene.eu , the navigation program sends automatically to the node manager one IP address (Internet Protocol), and some other information (including the type of reader-program used by the visitor/user).

Moreover, the networking traffic and the way the site www.iene.eu is used is recorded and analyzed in order to improve the service provided, with the help of sessions that operate transparently and do not save any information from the visitor’s system. The website www.iene.eu uses a type of  technology  named “cookies”, as most websites do; by using this technology the site www.iene.eu does not collect any personal information from the visitor/user, nor is IENE S.A. able to communicate with the visitor/user (unless the visitor/user gives voluntarily his/hers information according to what has been stated above), and no information is extracted from the visitor/users’ computer. “Cookies” are small text files that are saved at the hard drive of every visitor/user of www.iene.eu, as long as the visitor/user has allowed the use of “cookies”. This type of technology, “cookies”, is used for the smooth provision of various services, as for example is order status, personal settings, adding items in the shopping basket or keeping them there in between two different visits and others, that could not be provided without the use of “cookies”. “Cookies” are also used for statistic reasons, in order to access the areas where the website services are useful and popular. The visitor/user of www.iene.eu can set his/hers server so that he/she is notified either for the use or not of “cookies” or not to allow the use of “cookies” at all. When the visitor/user does not allow the use of “cookies”, he/she cannot have any further access to the particular webpages and services for the use of which “cookies” are indispensable. When the visitor/users unveils personal information according to the above mentioned clauses they give their consent to the terms of use of this information as stated here.

IENE e-shop policy

1. iene.eu

The visitor/user declares that he/she agrees to the following terms and conditions by using iene.eu and that he/she uses it lawfully.

The visitor/user of iene.eu uses the site at his/hers full responsibility. IENE is not liable for the malicious intervention of a third party.

All users of iene.eu are hereby bound not to hurt others by using it maliciously nor to violate their personal data. The visitor/user visits or shops at  www.iene.eu provided that he/she has agreed unreservedly to these terms and conditions.

2. Payment by credit card

The visitor/user expresses his interest to purchase a registration from IENE by providing his/hers credit card details. The purchase is chronologically defined by the moment the visitor/user presses the button “Register”.

IENE will not, for security reasons, save the information of any credit card for future use. Therefore the visitor/user will have to re-enter his/hers credit card information every time he/she wants to make a new purchase. By entering his/hers credit card details the visitor/user expressly declares that he/she has the legal right to use the credit card.

IENE is not responsible in case of the illegal use of credit cards. By giving his/hers credit card details, the visitor/user agrees to have the amount of his/hers purchase reserved and by completing his/hers order he/she agrees to have the amount charged on his/hers credit card.

In case the credit card transaction is declined for any reason by the bank which has issued the card or the credit card network, such reasons being for example exceeding the card limit or suspicion of fraud, then the visitor/user is considered not to have completed the Purchase.

In the case of an incomplete Purchase, IENE is obligated to discharge the amount of his/hers purchase from the credit card.

IENE has contracted with Alpha bank Online payment provider in order to carry through credit card transactions at www.iene.eu.

In the case where credit card charges and reservation of amounts are not carried through, responsible are either the Online Payment Service or the Internet Service Provider and not IENE Here are some cases, indicative and not inclusive, for which IENE is not responsible:

  • Hardware or software failure caused by the Online Payment Service In case the server of the Online Payment Service stops working according to its specifications, due to either content failure( for example failure of hard drives, loss of power, memory failure) or due to software problems, the visitor/user will be considered not to have completed his/her purchase.
  • In case IENE is not notified of the completion of the transaction. In case the transaction is charged or reserved on the credit card, but IENE is not notified by acceptable means, then IENE will not regard the purchase as complete. The lack of notification here may be brought about either by the Online Payment Service or the Internet Service Provider.

The above cases are indicative but are not a complete list of the cases where IENE is not to be held liable. In these cases IENE does not receive any payment from the visitor/user.

The credit card transactions at the www.iene.eu e-shop are operated by Alpha Bank. The high security level of Alpha Bank’s services are hereby declared.  All payments made using the card are processed through the electronic payment platform of "Alpha e-Commerce" of Alpha Bank and uses TLS 1.2 encryption protocol encryption with 128-bit (Secure Sockets Layer - SSL). Encryption is a way of coding the information until it reaches its recipient, who will be able to decode it using the appropriate key.

Alpha Bank uses systems and procedures that do not allow access to their data or their IT systems.

IENE does not have access to the credit card information of the visitor/user because payment is executed by redirecting him/her to Alpha Bank’s website which is specifically formed and encrypted for this purpose. IENE keeps only the contact information, such as the Name, Surname, email address and telephone number of the visitor/user. The visitor/user has to provide the following personal data in order to fill the “Complete your order” form: name, surname, delivery address, email address, telephone number. These data are protected by the order code which the visitor/user receives at his/hers email address, after pressing the button “Register” and completing the payment through Alpha Bank’s electronic payment platform.

3. Limitation of liability

The visitor/user agrees that he/she will use www.iene.eu services at his/hers own responsibility and that the content is provided “as it is” without any kind of direct or indirect guarantees. More specifically without a) the guarantee of uninterrupted supply of www.iene.eu service b) guarantee for availability, reliability, ampleness and precision of the information and content of the service c) guarantee of the suitability for a specific purpose

This clause of limitation of liability applies to all damage caused by failure to provide, error, omission, interruption, flaw, delay of the transmission or service, virus on the P/C, failure of the telecommunication connections etc.

IENE is not liable for any legal, civil or/and penal claims nor for any damages (positive damages, or consequential loss which indicatively and not restrictively, jointly or/and cumulatively leads to profit loss, data loss, loss of earnings, financial satisfaction etc) presented by visitors/users of iene.eu or a third party because of the operation or not of the service, or/and the use of the service, or/and failing to provide the service or/and information given by the service or/and  forbidden interference with products, or/and services or/and information provided by the website, by a third party. IENE is not responsible for the malfunction of the visitors/users’ pc which may be caused by the incorrect installation of the software provided by the website and by the digitized document which the visitor/user receives.

4. Right of cancellation and return policy

The visitor/user can cancel his/hers order and ask for a reimbursement within 5 days from the day he/she made the purchase. In order to place a cancellation and reimbursement claim you either have to send an email at [email protected] or communicate with costumer service at 0030 210 3628457. IENE will reimburse payments by making a bank account deposit.

5. Applicable Law

Any dispute between the visitor/user and IENE is regulated by the Greek Law and is subject to the exclusive responsibility of the Courts in Athens.

6. Communication

For any information pertaining to the service of www.iene.eu the visitor/users can call the customer service numbers at 0030 210 3628457.

Alternatively, he/she can send an email to the following email address: [email protected]

IENE is entitled at any time to alter, change or delete one or all of the above terms and conditions of use or to add new terms of use. Every alteration, change or deletion is active from the day it is published on iene.eu. By using www.iene.eu after the aforementioned publication, the visitor/user accepts the alterations, changes and deletions.  IENE has the right to change, alter, suspend, obstruct, or stop the use of part or all of the service at iene.eu whenever and for any reason or for no reason, and without warning and without being liable.