Brussels, 26/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - Ensuring a reliable energy supply and transparent agreements with supplier third countries by creating a legal framework that secures the continuity of investment - those are the challenges that should be raised by future legislation on the external aspects of EU energy policy. The debate on this is currently being held at the European Parliament. A hearing organised by the rapporteurs on this dossier - Krisjanis Karins (EPP, Latvia) on the information exchange mechanism for intergovernmental energy agreements between member states and third countries, and Edit Herczog (S&D, Hungary) on cooperation with third countries on energy policy - allowed discussion to be fuelled on Tuesday 24 January, on the eve of voting in committee on their respective reports (on 28 February for the former and 21 March for the latter). In the rapporteurs' view, the future legislation is a first stage ahead of a common energy policy, to be based on internal market rules.
Confidentiality versus transparency. Beate Raabe, Secretary General of Eurogas, underlined the need to ensure that no commercially sensitive information is made public, and suggested that less time should be allowed for the Commission to examine whether energy agreements between member states and third country suppliers are compatible with EU law. In the initial Commission proposal, the time allowed was 4 months. Karins considers the EU must strike a good balance between confidentiality and the need for transparency in intergovernmental agreements, as it is important for industry to know whether their investments are in line with EU law. This opinion was shared by Frank Umbach, who is a researcher for the Centre for European Security Strategies. He considers confidentiality is important but that more transparency is indispensable to strengthen the external dimension of the EU's energy policy. (EH/transl.jl)