Brussels, 15/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The compromise reached in trialogue on the energy efficiency directive during the night of 13-14 June (see EUROPE 10634) was indeed confirmed on the sidelines of the Energy Council on Friday 15 June, in Luxembourg. The compromise is key to catching up the accumulated delay in energy saving. Energy savings have been stagnating at under 10% when it was foreseen that 20% energy savings should be made by 2020. Commenting on the agreement, Claude Turmes (Greens/EFA, Luxembourg) summarised the advantages of a directive that will make it possible to guarantee and create employment but, and especially, to avoid losing a large part of the astronomical savings for oil or gas from Russia for example. Renewed European efforts regarding energy provision, on which the institutions have agreed, provide for a minimum of 17% in energy savings. Speaking on behalf of the current presidency, the Danish energy minister, Martin Lidegaard, could not conceal some bitterness in this respect. He tried to put a brave face on it at a press conference saying: “The Danish Presidency had hoped to reach an agreement on 20% (…) but with this directive we are at over 17% and the target as a percentage remains”. Turmes, however, nonetheless asks where the missing 3% are going to come from. To this, the European commissioner for energy, Günther Oettinger, replied that, with eco-design or market instruments, it is possible to meet a number of shortfalls. The agreement reached in trialogue takes on all the more significance, Lidegaard says, as it will allow the European summit to reach results. The directive, he added, will be part of the package that will give rise to conclusions in two weeks' time. (MD/transl.jl)