Despite broad consensus on the outlines of the major package of measures for green energy proposed by the Commission late in 2016, many member states called, at a meeting of the energy ministers of the EU in Brussels on Monday 27 February, for more realism over the deadlines, for greater flexibility and for the national specifics on the energy mix to be taken into account.
"In general, a consensus was reached in favour of the broad objectives of the clean energy package", said the Maltese minister for energy, Konrad Mizzi, at a press conference following the first ministerial exchange of views on the broad package of measures for green energy, which was unveiled by the Commission at the end of 2016 (see EUROPE 11679).
"We have to remain realistic. Some colleagues stressed the necessary timescales. Some flagged up the need to build in enough flexibility. Some delegations insisted on the national specifics", Mizzi however admitted, summing up contributions of the delegations, some of which, like Poland, spoke out in no uncertain terms against the Commission's proposals.
Reiterating that its energy policy still depended to a considerable degree on coal-fired power stations, Poland said on Monday that the proposals of the package were absolutely at odds with the principle of subsidiarity and sovereign choice of energy mix.
In a joint declaration with the other countries of the Visegrad group (Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia), Poland reiterated its grave misgivings regarding the tight timetable called for by the Commission, which would ideally like to conclude the inter-institutional examination of this package by the end of this year. "The timetable for the process of negotiating all legislative elements must be realistic and feasible", the four countries stress.
During the debate, several other countries, among them Latvia, Croatia and Ireland, expressed the same request, calling for the quality of the legislation to take priority over the timetable.
Essentially, the Visegrad group countries said that they felt that some parts of the legislative elements of the package compromise the competencies of the member states enshrined in the treaties, such as the right to freely determine their energy mix.
On behalf of the Commission, Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said that he is prepared to talk to Poland, and Hungary, to discuss regulated prices.
Ireland stressed that Brexit would be a major challenge and called for assurances that regional cooperation could continue once the UK has left the EU. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)