Brussels, 18/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 18 November, the President of the European Parliament's Energy Committee, Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Poland), welcomed the State of the Energy Union presented by the European Commission. Nonetheless, he urged them to ensure that support was not given to infrastructure projects that went against the interests of the Energy Union and highlighted the role played by the Russian Nord Stream gas pipeline to double capacity.
In a press release published on Wednesday, Buzek said that he was “happy to see the Commission live up to its promise to keep the Energy Union high on the political agenda” and explained that “The first 'State of the Energy Union' is an opportunity to review progress but also to highlight key areas in which efforts should be strengthened”.
He highlighted the fact that “Together with ITRE coordinators and vice-chairs from most political groups I have alerted the Commission that one of such areas is our energy security in the context of the doubling of Nord Stream. Like in a focal lens, Nord Stream shows the core reason why we are building the Energy Union: overdependence on a monopolist external supplier and abuse of energy as a political weapon. Now it is in the Commission's and Council's hands to ensure that projects which contradict the principles of the Energy Union, such as the expansion of Nord Stream, will not be granted any EU support, financial or other, including derogations from the 3rd Energy Package (liberalisation)”.
At the beginning of September, the Russian gas company, Gazprom, signed a shareholders' pact with five European partners to build the Nord Stream-2 project, which seeks to double the capacity of the gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, Nord Stream, which has been operating since 2012 and increase supply from 55 to 110 billion m3 a year. Gazprom will direct this project in which E.ON and BASF-Wintershall from Germany, OMV from Austria, the Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell and the French Engie company each have a 10% stake. This project has created a number of misgivings at the Commission and serious concerns at the EP (see EUROPE 11406).
At a more general level, Buzek emphasised on Wednesday that the Energy Union project legislative framework on energy should be equally decided by the EP and the Council of the EU. On the basis of the report by Marek Jozef Grobarczyk (ECR, Poland), the EP set out its requirements for the Energy Union during the Energy Committee vote on 10 November (see EUROPE 11428). The plenary vote on this report (and the report by Peter Eriksson (Greens/EFA, Sweden) on the interconnections also adopted at the Energy Committee on 10 November) has been scheduled for the plenary meeting on 14-17 December. In the meantime, the State of the Energy Union, presented by the Commission on Wednesday, will be the subject of a plenary session debate on 24 November in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)