ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF EU MEMBER STATES: A PANEL DATA ANALYSIS

The paper analyzes the energy efficiency of the EU member states in the context of the EU 20-20-20(20% reduction of primary energy consumption and 20% increase of the share of renewable energy by 2020). The grouping is based on a system of coefficients, represented by: the degree of energy dependence, total consumption of resources, consumption of renewable resources, primary energy consumption. By using the panel data regression, the variables that most influence the GDP as a result of the increase of the energy efficiency between 2004-2017 were highlighted. The analysis of the EU member states shows that the progress registered during the transition on the energy market has been irregular within the European countries. The different progress of the European countries is also a consequence of the differences between the regulations and the political priorities of the governments of the Member States. In addition, the results show that EU countries still consume substantially more energy on GDP.