Brussels, 28/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 28 February, EU energy ministers approved the 10-year strategy 2010-2020 brought forward by the European Commission at the start of November. In conclusions which complement those of the European Council of 4 February and will form part of those of 25 March, the Energy Council set out the short-, medium- and long-term priorities of EU energy strategy.
In the internal market chapter, the Energy Council insists that member states should implement the 3rd liberalisation legislative package swiftly and in full.
The Council wants the revised energy efficiency action plan, which will be unveiled in March, to recommend measures improving the energy performance of the energy system from production and transport to final use. It also wants the revised action plan to concentrate on specific sectors - construction, transport and industry - while avoiding sectoral objectives. The action plan should also propose the implementation by 2015 of other legislative acts in the context of the eco-design and labelling directives, and make provision for the review of the energy services and cogeneration directives. While arguing for a common method of evaluating progress, the Energy Council considers that the definition of additional objectives cannot be justified at present, but notes that implementation of the 20% target by 2020 will be re-assessed in 2013.
On infrastructure, the Council highlights the need to retain the market's essential role in drafting and funding projects. Without prejudice to the selection of individual projects and the completion of projects in progress, smart networks and the electricity, gas and oil corridors indicated by the Commission in the infrastructure package are considered to be priorities. The Council has asked the Commission to conduct an exhaustive assessment, determining the obstacles to their completion, and, in the autumn, to present an initiative to rationalise building permit procedures.
On R&D in low carbon energy technologies, the Council gives priority to the implementation of the European industrial initiatives of the SET Plan that were launched before the end of 2010 and the creation of the European Research Area. It also recommends the launch of initiatives on the technologies related to new large-scale projects (storage of electricity, sustainable biofuels, smart cities and networks) and clean vehicles.
A chapter on domestic energy sources and generation calls for no avenue, from renewables to nuclear, to be neglected. The renewables directive should be implemented within the set timescale, with full advantage being made of cooperation mechanisms and obstacles to the use of national support schemes removed. The Council also calls for assessment of the potential for the sustainable extraction and use of resources, whether conventional fossil fuels or not (schist gas and oil shale).
On the external dimension, the Council stresses the need to improve the transparency and credibility of external action sending coherent and coordinated messages to suppliers and transit countries. Member states also agree that information exchange with the Commission, notably on bilateral agreements, has to be improved. The Council calls, too, for continued diversification of supply routes and sources and efforts to develop strategic corridors, such as the southern gas corridor, onto which the Nabucco gas pipeline project is grafted.
For the long-term, the Energy Council calls for a technologically neutral energy roadmap to 2050, laying the emphasis on energy efficiency and compatible with the roadmap for a low-carbon economy. (E.H./transl.rt)