Brussels, 11/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - Chaired by the Spanish secretary of state for energy, Pedro Luis Marin Uribe, the first Energy Council under Spanish EU Presidency is expected to reach a political agreement on the draft Council regulation on notification to the Commission of investment projects in energy infrastructure within the European Commission. The regulation in question establishes a common framework for the notification by member states of data and information on investment projects in energy infrastructure for the construction, upgrading or dismantling of production, transport and energy storage capacities. It also covers the oil, natural gas, electricity (including from renewable sources) and bio-fuel sectors, and investment projects related to the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, either planned or underway on their territory, including interconnections with non EU countries.
This new regulatory framework will allow the Commission to follow how the situation develops more closely in order to anticipate potential risks and ensure better coordination between the member states concerned and at Community level, and to make the market more transparent. The political agreement expected will follow the exchange of views during the Energy Council on 10 December 2009 (EUROPE 10037). The European Parliament, for its part, amended the draft Commission text by adopting the Valean report on 25 February. The Council will also adopt conclusions on a European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan), on the basis of the Commission financing plan proposed in October 2009 (EUROPE 9993) and discussed at the Energy Council on 7 December 2009 and then at the informal ministerial meeting in Seville on 15 and 16 January. To a large extent, conclusions endorse the priorities proposed by the Commission concerning the technological roadmaps for 2010-2020 developed by the six European industrial initiatives for wind power, solar energy, the electricity network, sustainable bio-energy, the capture, transport and storage of carbon, sustainable nuclear fission, and fuel and hydrogen cells. Looking ahead to the European Council on 25 and 26 March, ministers will also hold an exchange of views on energy aspects of the EU 2020 Strategy for growth and employment, proposed on 3 March by the Commission (EUROPE 10090). Finally, on the subject of international relations, ministers will hold an exchange of views on relations between Russia and Ukraine regarding gas supplies, and the Hungarian delegation will brief the Council on the summit of the Visegrad group on energy security, held in Budapest on 12 March. (E.H./transl.jl)