The public square - Ewelina Hartstein, DG Energy

Two years ago at EUSEW 2024, I called my vox pop episode "the dog who caught the bus." After years of running hard to define the European Green Deal, the EU had finally caught what it was chasing, and seemed unsure what to do next. I ended that episode saying it was time for extra communication efforts, starting with uncomfortable conversations.

Two years on, this episode asks the same question from inside the institution. Ewelina Hartstein leads external communication at DG Energy and is one of the people responsible for staging EUSEW. We talk about the work behind the work: how DG Energy chooses what gets said, who gets to speak, and what remains off-stage at a moment when energy policy is entangled with affordability, security, and trust.

What the conversation surfaces:

• Why "it comes from Brussels" is, in her own words, an expression she does not like

• What it means that EUSEW "brings together a community of people who are convinced," and how DG Energy thinks about engaging the unconverted

• The 20th anniversary edition's three-word theme (clean, secure, competitive) and the affordability dimension she insists belongs alongside them

• A live disagreement on whether the conversations EUSEW hosts are "uncomfortable" or "perfectly legitimate"

• The shift she names directly: energy moving from commodity to right, and a new EU awareness campaign on people's rights in energy launching at EUSEW

A behind-the-scenes conversation released around EUSEW 2026 (9 to 11 June, Brussels and online).

Marine Cornelis is the founder of Next Energy Consumer, a policy consultancy working on energy poverty, consumer rights, and housing at EU level. If you are working on a related mandate or research question, you can reach her at contact@nextenergyconsumer.eu

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Music: I Need You Here - Kamarius
Edition: Podcast Media Factory 

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