Energy efficiency and energy saving directiveA new directive aiming to “use energy more effectively at all stages in the chain, from energy production and conversion to its end use, through distribution”. The EU Executive’s initiative dated 22nd June is part of a broader EU plan to cut energy consumption down by 20% before 2020. All EU institutions have taken position on this goal, and the member states have subscribed to it (European Council 4th February 2011, Energy Ministers’ Council 10th June 2011). “If the next few years see no changes – the EU Commission warns -, then this goal will only be half-achieved, which will endanger the EU’s competitiveness, its fight to reduce CO2 emission and its energy supply security”, which will “weigh heavily on consumers’ bills”. “Our proposal – Commissioner Günther Oettinger pointed out – aims to make the everyday use of energy more efficient and help citizens, public authorities and the industry manage their energy consumption better”. Measures include, first and foremost, the legal obligation for all member states “to establish energy saving plans”: if the EU Executive’s proposal is implemented, energy suppliers or energy retailers will have to save 1.5% of their sales volume every year, “implementing energy efficiency policies among end users, such as, for example, improving heating systems, installing double glazing or roof insulation”. The public sector will have to set the example: “Public bodies will commit to launch low-energy products and services on the market while legally bound to buy energy-efficient buildings, products and services”. In addition, they will have to progressively reduce their energy consumption. Other guidelines concern industrial companies, efficient energy production and distribution processes.International acknowledgment of professional qualificationsRevising the directive on the international acknowledgment of professional qualifications to ease the citizens’ free movement for professional reasons, strengthening the single market, and “contributing to make European economy more competitive” through growth and job creation. In this respect, the EU Commission published a Green Book on 22nd June that opens a EU-wide consultation about the value and acknowledgment of academic qualifications across the 27 member states. According to the Domestic Market Commissioner, the French Michel Barnier, “workers’ mobility to existing jobs should be eased”. Because of this, when revising the 2005 Directive, “we will look at many important issues, including the development of a professional card for the professions concerned and will improve the educational requirements for some professions”. The Green Book highlights some possible future solutions. The first is precisely the launch of a professional card that would enable workers “to prove their credentials (having the required qualifications, being qualified to practice a profession) to consumers, employers and authorities in a different member state”. Then, we will try to reach agreement on minimum educational requirements for some professions, such as health-care professions. “To achieve this, some adjustments – the Green Book explains – may have to be done in the length and contents of education, and language skills may have to be changed as well”. People and organisations concerned are called to respond to such consultation by 20th September 2011; the EU Commission will organise a high-level conference in November; a draft legislation should be out by December 2011. For info: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/index_en.htm.Eurostat, per capita GDP in the 27 EU member statesThe per capita Gross Domestic Product (in terms of standard purchasing power) within the EU-27 ranges from 43% in Bulgaria to 283% in Luxembourg. Such dramatic differences in the wealth of the Union’s member states have been revealed by a Eurostat survey. Taking 100 as the average per capita GDP in the EU-27, the one of the euro-zone (17 countries using the single currency) stands just above it, at 108. Italy is just average (100), while Spain (101), France (107) and the United Kingdom (113) outperform it. The highest GDPs can be found in the north European countries (Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, as well as Belgium, Austria and Germany (the latter is 19 points above the EU’s average). Bottom of the list are Bulgaria, Romania, the Baltic countries and Poland.
