Brussels, 13/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - Officially, the meeting was a great success. The reality of the matter, however, is far different from what is stated in a communication, as is common practice in Brussels. In fact, the disparity between the two was such that Commissioner Günther Oettinger and Jordan's Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed - the joint chairs of the EuroMed conference on energy held in Brussels on 11 December - chose not to face the journalists rather than have to comment on the earlier, more triumphant version of events.
The presence of eleven ministers - from European countries and from Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Palestine and even Libya, whose country has not yet acquired observer status in Euro-Mediterranean dialogue - raised the profile of the meeting (the third of its kind) while at the same time drawing attention to the weakness of its outcome. It should also be noted that the Algerian minister - a “heavyweight” in the sector - did not attend and his representative at the conference placed a veto on any discussion on matters other than renewable energies in order to keep oil and gas - taboo subjects - out of the debate.
The publication of a final statement, transformed into the “presidency's conclusions” given that no agreement on its content was forthcoming, was still not effective two days later. This is due to the Cyprus issue, Turkey having blocked any allusions that it considered to be injurious to its political perception of the issue.
Officially, the conference tackled the strengthening of regional energy cooperation in order to ensure safe, sustainable and affordable energy supply and better energy efficiency in the Mediterranean Basin. The underlying aim of such cooperation is to promote socio-economic development and to contribute to transition towards lower carbon emissions and energy efficiency - to sum up, a general exchange of views during which the ministers analysed and noted the development of a regional electricity market, underlining the need to invest in cross-border electricity connections and transport infrastructure as well as reform of the regulatory framework. According to the Commission, the meeting underlined the importance of private sector investment in renewable energies, mainly by public-private partnerships. On the whole, considerable interest for deepening political dialogue and strengthening the energy partnership between the EU and Mediterranean third countries was expressed.
It was not until the following day, on the sidelines of the Energy Council, that, when pressed by reporters, Commissioner Oettinger delivered some elements of information, namely that the creation of the inter-Mediterranean partnership is in fact stumbling up against the reality of a European energy market that is still far from integrated. The lack of synergies between countries of the southern rim only adds to the problem.
This relative failure may be characterised by the non-approval of the “Mediterranean solar plan”, a flagship project the more-or-less official launch had been announced for the occasion. A Spanish veto was the final cause of the blocking - which had been lying dormant for over a month. Officially, the meeting on 11 December resulted in no more than a report and the continuation of examination of the project whose “maturity” was forcefully stated by those developing the concept. Throughout the duration of its maturing process, since the announcement in November 2008 at the time of the founding ministerial conference in Marseilles, the project has become less attractive. Its primary aim - to export the surplus of southern rim countries' abundant solar production to the European internal electricity market - has proven unrealistic due to the cost of transport infrastructure and the uncompetitive price of the energy to be delivered. Reticence was mainly expressed by the countries in geographical contact with the networks for transmission of the energy produced - Italy and also Spain which fear the risk of pressure on their internal markets, explained Commissioner Oettinger. He said, on Wednesday, that the idea of connection by submarine cables directly from the southern coast to the northern coast (no doubt France) is being studied in order to circumvent the Spanish veto both politically and commercially and, technically, the weakness of interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe. (FB/transl.jl)