Brussels, 07/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The draft energy efficiency directive aims to help the EU achieve its indicative target of 20% energy savings by 2020. After three trialogue meetings in April and May, the Council and the European Parliament (EP) could seal a deal at the final trialogue on 13 June, just before the Energy Council on 15 June. EP rapporteur Claude Turmes (Greens/EFA, Luxembourg), however, wants “additional measures” going beyond the possibilities of the compromise proposed last week by the Danish Presidency of the Council, which does not exceed a threshold of 15% energy savings for 2020, a limit below which the EP “will not sign”. Despite the “lack of ambition” of the text compared with the Commission's initial proposal and the EP position, the “architecture” needed to prepare energy companies for a new economic model and member states to put in place national roadmaps for the refurbishment of buildings by 2050 “is there”, according to Turmes. This is a victory for Denmark, which had made adoption of the text a priority of its presidency, ably assisted by France, with the new Hollande administration saving the compromise by opposing Germany. While the United Kingdom refuses to go further in its concessions than the Danish Presidency proposal to restrict to 25% exemptions to the requirement to make savings of 1.5% per year in the energy consumed by all final-user sectors, a flagship measure in the text, Germany failed to find a blocking minority that would accept 20% exemptions with initiatives in place since 2009 excluded - a move that would have deprived the directive of its substance by reducing its potential for improvement by 3% compared with current policies, Turmes said. In a separate statement, the Commission will set out how to bridge the gap between the 20% target for energy savings and the 15% the text will allow to be achieved. (EH/transl.rt)