Brussels, 15/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has promised ten major energy groups, including GDF-Suez, E.ON, RWE, ENI and ENEL, a joint ministerial-level meeting.
Unveiling the list of priority energy infrastructure projects on Monday 14 October (see EUROPE 10942), the commissioner announced that a meeting would take place in the next few weeks with the chief executives of the ten energy groups which complained about EU energy policy (see EUROPE 10941) and with the ministers of the countries where these groups are based, to discuss their comments.
Oetinger told the press on Monday, that the criticism was “justified”. “But it is more a cry for help than criticism. I believe these companies are calling on us to strengthen the Europeanisation of energy policy”, he added. “In the Europeanisation of energy strategy, just as in Europeanisation of our networks, our goal is to complete the internal market. But, for various reasons, national energy policies are going in the opposite direction. When we take a step forward with the internal market, we take two steps back with national policies. This was the case with capacity mechanisms, measures taken by the member states on feed-in tariffs. We can't accept that in this area there are 28 mechanisms, each working alongside the others. That would be the end of the internal market for electricity. We still want a pan-European approach”, Oettinger said.
A group of ten energy companies, together representing 50% of electricity generation and 30% of renewable capacity in Europe, bringing together GDF-Suez of France, RWE and E.ON of Germany, Eni and ENEL of Italy, Vattenfall of Sweden, GasNatural Fenosa and Iberdrola of Spain, GasTerra of the Netherlands and CEZ of the Czech Republic, have for several months been criticising what they see as the failed European energy policy, in particular on support for renewable energy. This failure is responsible, they claim, for the rise in electricity bills for consumers and companies and production overcapacity which has forced them to close power plants capable of generating 51 gigawatts -equivalent to the generation of Belgium, Portugal and the Czech Republic combined. On Friday, the heads of these ten companies called for an end to public subsidies for certain renewable energies, such as wind power, and argued for funding for the gas power stations needed, they say, to meet surges in demand, particularly in winter.
“We understand the concerns of these ten companies which have shareholders and have to pay dividends and repay bank loans”, said Oettinger, promising the group a high-level meeting between bosses and ministers. He pointed out, however, that other major European operators had not joined the call. “But we'll have to go further to have a more representative view”, he stated (our translation throughout). (EH/transl.fl)