Brussels, 11/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - After the first trilogues in April and at the beginning of May, there is still hope that the Council and European Parliament can reach an agreement by the end of June, under the Danish Presidency, on the thorny issue of the “Energy Efficiency” directive.
Addressing the press on 8 May, the day after the trilogue, shadow reporter Britta Thomsen (S&D, Denmark) said that she was confident that an agreement could be reached in June, with a plenary vote in July, on a text that has provoked intense debate for almost a year. The European Commission put its proposal on the table in June 2011 (see EUROPE 10403) and the vote at the European Parliament's energy committee on the report by Luxembourg Green, Claude Turmes, took place at the end of last February (see EUROPE 10563). Thomsen considers that there are two reasons that suggest that they may now have found a way out of the stalemate in the negotiations between a very ambitious EP and the member states, under pressure from their respective industries. Firstly, the determination demonstrated by Denmark, a pioneer since 1978 in the area of energy efficiency, and secondly, the possible support of France. It now has a new president, François Hollande. The Socialist leader made energy efficiency a priority and warhorse in his programme, as a means of stimulating growth and creating jobs. On this point, the announcement made by the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, of a package of measures to stimulate growth could also help to facilitate a deal.
Although the Council is unanimous on the “Energy Efficiency” directive, Thomsen explained that their misgivings remain focused around the question of who is going to pay for it. On Tuesday, progress was made in the trilogue on several points, particularly on the idea that energy efficiency investment should be linked to financial perspectives and bolstered by European structural funds. Although the question of binding objectives remains the major subject of disagreement between the Council and the Parliament, member states are now becoming aware that clearly defined binding targets on energy efficiency (which a lot of countries had concerns about), would allow them greater flexibility than binding measures. Member states also want to reduce public building renovation requirements so that they apply exclusively to government buildings. Finally, Parliament's request to introduce a reference on the freezing of carbon emission quotas to stimulate an increase in carbon prices as part of the third phase of the European Trading Scheme (ETS) is also creating a problem.
According to the European Commission, the Parliament's amendments to its initial text means that energy saving targets are 30 points higher than what it was proposing (130%), while the text amended by the Council would only attain 38% of the European Commission's target. (EH/transl.fl)