Energy package

“Energy prices have risen by an average of 15% in the European Union in the last year alone. 54% of Europe’s energy is now imported at a cost of 700 euros each year for every EU citizen”. “We need to urgently address this situation by increasing our energy efficiency and reducing our dependence on imports.” José Manuel Barroso, President of the Commission, illustrated the new tool package designed “to give a new boost to energy in Europe”.Less pollution, greater efficiency. The document had been requested by the Council of the Heads of Government and State in March 2007 and is due on the eve of mid-December’s summit, when the Union is expected to give the green light to measures aimed at countering climate changes and achieve the 20-20-20 target (reducing CO2 gases by 20%; increasing efficiency by 20%, increasing renewable energy by 20%). The Executive thus proposes a “European Union energy security and solidarity action plan” along with policies that will trigger investments and in view of “decarbonising the EU electricity network”. The Commission recently enacted a series of measures aimed at markets liberalisation and for the development of latest generation technology. On the background lies the complex scenario of agreements with international partners for safe resources at a lower price. The EU/Russia summit on November 14 is an important part of the picture. Saving and investing. Europe’s energy development doesn’t merely rely on oil, gas and coal. Polluting sources have been fully exploited throughout the Old Continent while only a part of Member States resort to nuclear energy. The Commission confirmed the 20-20-20 target – objected by a number of States due to environmental protection measures’ costs that would fall upon economic systems already severely hit by the ongoing crisis – and examined short and long term plans that Europe is called to address between 2020 and 2050. It also proposed “an Energy and Security Action Plan aimed at energy efficiency” in a number of key-sectors such as building, heating and air-conditioning systems. “We have to save to invest to diversify”, Barroso pointed out. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs highlighted the economic factor. “Investing in energy and in energy efficiency – he claimed – entails a renewed economic thrust that the present situation demands”. Greater emphasis on solidarity. In presenting the Community’s renewed Action Plan (November 13), the Commission identified a number of mandatory priorities, the first being “the short-term adoption and implementation of the decisions of the European Council” of March 2007. The Commission’s package of proposals regarding the reduction of greenhouse gases and to boost renewable energy and efficiency dates back to January 2008. “In the forthcoming weeks – Piebglas explained – the Parliament and Council will be called to adopt it”. The second envisaged priority “refers to the need to meet the increased precariousness of energy supply with a number of key-points: appropriate infrastructures and “making better use of EU’s indigenous energy resources, from renewable energy sources to fossil fuels”. Thus “solidarity should play a greater role” that includes “oil and gas stocks and crisis response mechanisms”. Politics, cogeneration, renewed networks. In addition to “the foreign politics of energy”, that would confer greater supply security; the Commission paved the way to high-performance combined heat-and-power plants. The package of proposals also underpins investments. “In Europe billions of euros are needed to replace obsolete infrastructures with low-carbon emission based on renewable energy sources. The Green Book identifies six points in the area of energy security: “a Baltic Interconnection Plan, a Mediterranean energy network, establishing North-South grids to interconnect national gas and electricity grids in Central and South-East Europe, and the development of a North Sea offshore grid, a southern gas corridor for the transport and supply of natural liquefied gas for Europe”.