Brussels, 04/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 18 November, the European Commission is expected to provide its first balance sheet for the Energy Union project, a year after the College of Commissioners, presided by Jean-Claude Juncker, was set up and nine months after the adoption by the College, last February, of a strategy for implementing this vast European integration project.
At the end of his lengthy dialogue tour with the member states regarding the Energy Union project, which he began in April, the Commission Vice-President in charge of the project, Maros Sefcovic, will unveil the communication drawing up an initial general balance sheet of the progress made by the EU-28 in each of its five specific areas: energy security, completion of the internal market, energy demand control, decarbonisation of the economy and research and innovation.
This document will also provide an inventory of the initiatives and proposals from the Commission for the end of 2015 and 2016. It will highlight the political conclusions drawn by the Commission six months after the launch of the project. On Wednesday 4 November, one Community source explained to us that the communication would focus “on what is good and less good and what should be done at European and member state levels”.
The communication will also contain wording on Energy Union governance, which according to our source, will focus on “what governance should resemble in the eyes of the Commission”.
This document will also contain a number of annexes, including one on 'key indicators', guidance on national plans for energy and climate within the framework of Energy Union, an updated roadmap for Energy Union, and a number of progress reports on energy security, energy efficiency and carbon emissions.
Second PCI list. On 18 November, the Commission will also reveal its second list of energy infrastructure Projects of Common Interest (PCI).
These projects are selected for their ability to guarantee significant benefits to at least two member states in the energy security field, as well as internal market integration or contribute to the incorporation of renewable energies into the networks and reducing carbon emissions. The PCIs will benefit from accelerated procedures for granting permits and can be eligible for financial support under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). As part of this mechanism, an envelope of €5.85 billion has been earmarked to Trans-European energy infrastructures for the 2014-20 period.
The first list of PCIs was adopted in the middle of October 2013. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)