Brussels, 27/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - European associations have given a lukewarm response to the package of proposals for Energy Union tabled by the European Commission on Wednesday 25 February.
BusinessEurope, the European association of employers, has underlined its support for the Commission's commitment to revitalise energy policy and to strengthen the EU's ability to act in this field. “The proposed holistic approach is a good foundation to balance the EU's energy, climate and industrial challenges better than in the past”, BusinessEurope states, expecting concrete action on the challenges of high energy prices, which are undermining industry competitiveness.
UEAPME, the association of crafts and SMEs, has voiced “mixed feelings”. It believes that the proposals for energy efficiency are “good”, but that those for the transport sector are “less realistic”, and that those concerning the predominantly SME-based sectors not involved in the emissions trading system (ETS) of quotas are “superficial”. As regards these non-ETS sectors, UEAPME is concerned by the Energy Union strategy's lack of involvement of SME organisations in setting up measures for the non-ETS legislation at national level. As regards road transport, the UEAPME fears that the shift to electro-mobility will be expensive in the current conditions and will impact negatively on economic operators, especially SMEs. With regard to energy efficiency, UEAPME welcomes the envisaged use of Juncker's investment plan for investment in the energy efficiency of buildings - which will enable SMEs to benefit from financial and technical support.
“Priorities might have shifted, but none of the strategies presented today are really new”, said EUROCHAMBRES, the association of European chambers of commerce. EUROCHAMBRES hails the Commission's intention to take a zero-tolerance approach to the implementation and enforcement of existing energy legislation for the internal energy market, but it asks the Commission to go further by developing harmonised EU-wide support schemes for renewable energy, and by swiftly establishing clear EU-level rules for capacity mechanisms, in order to avoid greater fragmentation of the internal market. In addition, EUROCHAMBRES believes that the continuing lack of a clear strategy for ensuring affordable and competitive wholesale prices is the package's “main deficiency”. The association welcomes the Energy Union strategy's emphasis on energy efficiency in the building and transport sectors, but underlines the need for further cross-sectoral support measures targeting SMEs. (Emmanuel Hagry)