The idea of an ‘Energy Union’ is high on the European political agenda. In 2010 the Notre Europe think tank, Jacques Delors and the Parliament president Jerzy Buzek proposed a ‘European Energy Community’. This idea was subsequently endorsed by Martin Schulz in 2012 during his first term as Parliament president. More recently Jean-Claude Juncker made an Energy Union one of the five priorities for his candidacy for Commission President and the European Council conclusions of its June 2014 meeting also endorsed the idea of an Energy Union, backed up by French President François Hollande. The new Juncker Commission has a leading Socialist Vice-President, Maroš Šefčovič, with specific responsibility for Energy Union - meaning that our group should move quickly to define our priorities.