/ Interview with MEP Maria Grapini, Member of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee

MEP Maria Grapini (S&D, Romania) is member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection and substitute member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism. MEP Grapini is also the Vice-Chair of the European Parliament SME Intergroup. On 17 March 2016, MEP Grapini hosted a high level event entitled "Nearly Zero Energy Hotels (NeZEH) for achieving low carbon growth in Europe.” The NEZEH initiative aims at accelerating the rate of refurbishments of existing hotels into Nearly Zero Energy Buildings. HOTREC also participated to the event to present the views of the hospitality sector. In the context of NEZEH, HOTREC asked Ms. Grapini to share her views on energy efficiency strategies for hotels. 1) On 17 March 2016, you hosted a High-Level Event on Nearly Zero Energy Hotels (NeZEH). This event represented an opportunity for EU policy makers, representatives from the industry as well as national, regional and local authorities to exchange views and discuss the challenges and opportunities of energy innovation as a means to enhance sustainability and competitiveness in the hotel sector. Could you briefly explain what have been the most important outcomes of this event? The conclusions of the event have been already sent to the European Commission's representatives and have been accepted by all the participants. The pilot project was good and brought concrete results. Hence, my proposal was the continuance of the neZEH project by offering financial support to other hotels. The effect of the project had a good impact not only on minimizing the energy consumption, but also on the quality of the environment and on the consumers' comfort. 2) HOTREC and its national associations are key actors when it comes to sensitizing hoteliers on the benefits of implementing energy efficiency measures. Our associations partner at national level with public authorities, energy companies, NGOs, in order to engage hoteliers in improving their energy management and guide them on energy efficiency options. From your point of view, what other initiatives/measures could the European Parliament introduce/ develop to boost the implementation of energy efficiency strategies and convince entrepreneurs to green their hotels in order to build a sustainable and competitive European tourism sector? Energy efficiency and European energy strategy are on the agenda of the European Commission and of the European Parliament. I think that national authorities must work with similar associations to design European and national funding programs regarding energy efficiency, in general for buildings, particularly for hotels. Furthermore, it needs a clear procedure for permanent information of entrepreneurs in the field in order to access European programs. Tourism is an extremely important domain for Romania and should be sustainably and efficiently built. 3) 75% of the companies in the hotel sector are micro-sized business. One of the big challenges that hoteliers face when undertaking energy efficiency measures is the limited access to financial resources as well as the lack of knowledge/awareness of feasible options on energy efficiency and the understanding of the benefits of energy savings. From your point of view, what additional measures should the national authorities develop (Funding, fiscal incentives etc) to ensure that NeZEH turn from pilots to a critical mass? In general, small businesses, especially micro enterprises have a problem with the access to finance, and also with the lack of possibilities to access information. I consider that projects, additional funding measures model as the neZEH pilot project could be initiated with national grants and guaranteed loans. Projects can be designed as an investment in energy savings and can be charged from the tax budget. The profit, instead of being transferred to the budget, could be used as co-financing for energy efficiency projects.