Brussels, 10/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - At a meeting on Tuesday 9 December, the European energy ministers argued in favour of a system of governance for the national energy and climate policies, in the framework of the action to be taken between now and 2030, with a flexible structure and pared-down administrative procedures.
On Tuesday, the ministers debated the new process of governance to support the implementation of the 2030 framework of action for the energy and climate policies, decided upon by the European Council of 24 October. The 2030 framework lays down minimum objectives to be achieved by 2030: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (40%, binding), increase the share of renewable energy (27%, binding) and to improve energy efficiency (27%, indicative).
“We mainly focused on the most suitable indicators to measure the progress made by the member states in the framework of their national plans towards the objectives of the 2030 framework. We stressed how much this raft of indicators would allow us to take stock of progress made in terms of climate and energy and to gauge the impact of this system on the competitiveness of the EU and the coherence of the energy, industrial and competition policies of the EU. We also discussed the structure and agreed on the need to build in flexibility. The procedures need to be pared down”, said the Italian Minister, Claudio De Vincenti.
The Commissioner for the Energy Union, Maros Sefcovic, said that the message sent out by the member states is “extremely clear”: “we need to go to work on a simplified system of governance which is similar for the objectives of the Energy Union and those of the 2030 framework. We must now make sure that we avoid any superfluous reporting, are able to rationalise the various processes of governance, and we must make sure that we are not making the administrative burden heavier”, he commented.
The October European Council agreed that the system of governance should be based on existing elements, such as the national climate programmes, national renewable energies and energy efficiency plans, and that its planning and reporting planks should be rationalised and regrouped. The system of governance aims to reinforce the role and rights of consumers whilst increasing transparency and predictability for investors. It also aims to make it easier to coordinate the national energy policies and to boost regional cooperation between member states. (EH)