在第一次煤炭對(duì)話之際，歐洲煤炭和褐煤協(xié)會(huì)主席迪特里希伯克宣布，歐洲是僅次于中國(guó)和美國(guó)的世界第三大煤炭消費(fèi)國(guó)，每年煤炭消費(fèi)量超過(guò)10億噸。大約一半的煤炭來(lái)自本地生產(chǎn)。因此，在歐洲，煤炭對(duì)于安全且具有價(jià)格競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的能源供應(yīng)是必不可少的。歐盟委員會(huì)（European Commission）傳統(tǒng)能源部主任Helmut Schmitt von Sydow補(bǔ)充說(shuō)，煤炭在發(fā)電領(lǐng)域發(fā)揮了核心作用。

On the occasion of the first Coal Dialogue, the president of the European Association for Coal and Lignite, Dietrich Bcker, proclaimed that Europe was the third biggest coal consumer in the World after China and the USA, with a coal consumption of more than one billion tons per year. About half of this coal comes from indigenous production. Coal is therefore indispensable for secure and price- competitive energy supply in Europe. Coal played a central role, especially in power generation, added Helmut Schmitt von Sydow, Director for conventional sources of energy in DG TREN from the European Commission.