Brussels, 10/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - Through the report by Marek Jozef Grobarczyk (ECR, Poland) that was adopted on Tuesday 10 November, the European Parliament's energy committee set out its demands on the strategy for energy union.
In its resolution, the committee gives its backing to the strategic framework for energy union, brought forward by the Commission in February of this year (see EUROPE 11262). Agreeing on the urgency of the issue of the EU's security of energy supply, it encourages the Commission actively to work to promote diversification of EU supply (sources, routes and suppliers) and construction of priority energy infrastructure corridors. It also asks the Commission, nonetheless, to ensure that new infrastructure projects are fully in line with EU law and EU priorities in terms of energy security and solidarity among member states. It underlines its concern over the impact of the proposed doubling of the Nordstream gas pipeline.
Arguing for greater cooperation and coordination between member states in preparing national energy policies, MEPs call on the Commission to consider how current national crisis prevention and response measures can be rationalised at regional and EU levels.
MEPs also want the Commission to give consideration to a voluntary mechanism to pool energy purchases and call for a comprehensive framework for the external dimension of energy union.
The committee believes the Commission should be given a greater role in energy negotiations between member states and third countries. It calls for all future inter-governmental agreements with third countries to have been subject to prior discussion with the Commission in order to ensure compliance with EU law, in particular the “3rd package”. It also asks the Commission to improve the transparency of commercial gas supply contracts in order to avoid unfair clauses and ensure better ex ante verification that these contracts do not breach EU law or energy security provisions.
The Committee equally encourages the EU to fully exploit its energy resources, whether conventional or not, and wants unnecessary regulatory constraints to be avoided for investors. On the other hand, aware of the public's concerns on this front, it calls on those member states intending to pursue hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for shale gas to respect the Commission's recommendations.
Lastly, the committee stresses the “key role” of energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy in achieving the EU's long-term climate goals in the most cost-effective way possible. It also hails the Commission's commitment to making the EU the world's “number one in renewables”. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)