Brussels, 05/07/2012 (Agence Europe) - The Cypriot Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, to hold office during the second half of 2012, hopes to take EU energy policy forward by facilitating, if possible, agreements on infrastructure and the safety of offshore oil-gas activity. These issues are without doubt close to Cyprus' heart given the country's insular and isolated geographical position.
The Cypriot Presidency first and foremost wants to push on with talks in Council and with the European Parliament to reach, it hopes, an agreement by the end of the year on the legislative package relating to trans-European energy infrastructure. With completion of the single market for energy by 2014, interconnections will allow member states to be integrated in trans-European energy networks, in order to guarantee energy supply security for the EU and to increase the share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption, the Presidency states in its programme.
Cyprus also wants talks to move ahead in Council and with the European Parliament on the regulation relating to the safety of offshore activities. In the light of the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, this aims to reinforce the EU's preparation and ability to intervene and to adopt best practice for offshore operations.
The Cypriot Presidency wants, moreover, to give a boost to the Council debate on supporting the market penetration of renewables after 2020, on the basis of recent Commission suggestions (see EUROPE 10628). On the basis of an assessment to come from the Commission, setting out an inventory of the hurdles still to be overcome, the Cypriot Presidency will assess progress made on the internal market for energy chapter, will identify the problems that have still to be overcome, and will report on this work to the European Council.
Finally, on the subject of energy efficiency, Cyprus will continue talks on the proposal for a regulation on the subject of energy efficiency labelling, modifying Regulation 106/2008 Energy Star, which will allow the agreement sealed between the EU and the United States to be implemented. (EH/transl.jl)