Brussels, 21/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - Against a backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis, the elaboration of proposals to reduce the EU's external energy dependency was at the heart of a conference on Wednesday 21 May in Brussels. This conference brought together the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, the commissioner for energy, Günther Oettinger and the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk.
As requested by the European Council at its most recent meeting on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 May (see EUROPE 11044), the Commission will present European leaders with a thorough examination of energy security and an action plan to reduce the EU's energy dependency at the summit on 26-27 June. The aim is to increase EU-wide efforts to reduce the high levels of gas dependency in Europe, especially for certain very dependent member states, particularly with regard to Russia.
This is the second time since 2006 (the date of the first Russia-Ukraine gas dispute) that the European Council has called on the Commission to develop such actions.
In 2013, the EU purchased 133 billion m3 of gas from Russia, 25% of all the gas it imports, at a cost of €35 billion. Almost half of these purchases transit through Ukraine, which has again defaulted on payments for its Russian gas supplies. This means but there is now a threat of cuts in Russian gas supplies to the EU, similar to what occurred during the Russian-Ukrainian disputes of 2006 and 2009.
Addressing the conference on Wednesday afternoon, Commissioner Oettinger said that the new Commission proposals included short-, medium- and long-term measures to increase the EU's security of supply. The European Commission will revise a proposal that member states previously have rejected, noted Oettinger. This would involve ensuring compulsory gas stocks in member states that can last up to 50-60 days during the winter, as opposed to the current 30-day obligation. He asserted that “member states have to Europeanise when there is a crisis, if not, it is the national dimension that prevails”. His message resembled a warning to member states that have largely preferred to go it alone on the energy front over the past 10 years.
The document currently being prepared by the European Commission highlights the need to develop connections and solidarity mechanisms such as inverse flows, as well as the need to implement a common external energy policy and proactive energy diplomacy to speed up energy diversification in the EU. The commissioner stressed that “we do not want energy to be used as a political weapon” and said that he did not want the energy sector to be included in the raft of sanctions against Russia in the context of the Ukrainian crisis.
Oettinger also highlighted energy efficiency as an “important instrument” for reducing the EU's external dependency arguing that energy saved meant lower energy imports. He also deplored the fact that this is a sector in which member states are reluctant to invest. He stressed that “I cannot but be aware that energy efficiency is an often used word during Sunday dinners but during the week it is seldom practised. Member states do not want to invest for the future, although it would be future generations that would benefit from this”.
Following a contribution by the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, on the need for a common energy policy, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk took the opportunity to promote his project for an energy union to break Russia's stranglehold in this area. This project, supported by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and taken up by France, ahead of the European Council in June, is based on the idea of strengthened solidarity mechanisms in the EU and common gas purchases (see EUROPE 11065). (EH)