Brussels, 19/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - Speaking on behalf of the Council of the EU, European ministers for foreign affairs meeting up on Tuesday 18 November, admitted a “certain delay” in completion of the internal energy market, whose political objective was set out long ago by the European Council as the end of 2014.
During examination of a progress report prepared by the Italian presidency on implementation of the main guidelines defined by the European Council over the past few years for Europe's strategic agenda on energy (including the internal market, infrastructure, energy efficiency and security), the Italian Secretary of State, Sandro Gozi, said that the General Affairs Council “agreed that they needed to make further efforts to complete the internal energy market”.
Gozi explained “we have noticed that the EU has accumulated a certain delay with regard to the timetable set out for creating a single energy market by the end of 2014. Significant provisions have been made but we have to do much more to catch up… It is necessary to continue work on reducing energy bills which, for the time being, have not yet been to the benefit of consumers… The General Affairs Council must do more to ensure appropriate implementation of the European Council's conclusions if we want to respect the deadlines that we have set out”.
Drawing on the balance sheet reached by the Commission in the middle of October, the presidency report underlines that there are many positive results that have been obtained during the work undertaken to complete the internal energy market by the end of 2014: implementation and transposition, to a large extent, of the regulatory framework; expanded consumer choice to several different providers; the increase in the cross-border trade in gas and electricity between member states; more efficient use of the gas pipelines and the opening up of the networks to competition, which are allowed under the rules of the 3rd liberalisation package.
The report explains that other measures, however, mainly depend on the member states and regulatory authorities making the necessary decisions: implementation of harmonised rules on the gas and electricity business; establishing limits on the intervention of the public authorities when markets are not able to guarantee continued gas and electricity supplies; enhancing regional cooperation; improving the ties between the retail and wholesale markets so that cuts in wholesale prices are translated into reduced prices that benefit consumers; strengthening cooperation between the transmission system operators (TSOs) and the distribution system operators (DSOs) in the gas and electricity domains.
The report also underlined the importance of taking urgent measures to guarantee that the minimum target of 10% connections between electricity grids is achieved. At the end of October, the European Council set a deadline of 2020 in this connection and 15% by 2030. (EH)