The Bulgarian Presidency, which took command of the Council of the EU for the next six months on 1 January, will work to achieve a stable Energy Union and to increase the possibilities of regional cooperation by promoting the creation of the necessary infrastructure to break the energy isolation of certain member states from the European gas and electricity networks, it explains in its programme of work.
It cites the security of gas supply by diversifying sources and routes of supply, the protection of critical energy infrastructure and adopting measures to reduce energy consumption as being some of the foundation stones of its work to achieve sustainable solutions.
Legislatively, the Bulgarian Presidency will have its work cut out to conclude the inter-institutional talks on the texts of the package of measures on clean energy, tabled by the Commission in November 2016 (see EUROPE 11679). To this end, it pledges to proceed by reconciling the interests of the member states by seeking compromise solutions based on broad consensus. Balanced compromise proposals should take account of the national specifics of the energy sectors of the member states from the point of view of its socio-economic impact, it stresses.
Right off the bat, the Presidency will have to facilitate the adoption of the revised directive on the energy performance of buildings, following the inter-institutional agreement of 19 December 2017 (see EUROPE 11930).
It will also have to open trilogue talks with the European Parliament on the Commission on the revised proposed directive on energy efficiency, once the European Parliament has taken position in plenary in the coming weeks, following the vote of the committee on energy of 28 November 2017 (see EUROPE 11914). The Council agreed upon its negotiation position for this text in June 2017 (see EUROPE 11816).
The Bulgarian Presidency will also have to steer trilogue discussions on the revised directive on renewable energy. The Council reached its position on 18 December 2017 (see EUROPE 11929) and the European Parliament will do likewise in January, following the vote reached by the committee on energy on 28 November (see EUROPE 11914).
Sofia will also facilitate talks on the draft framework law establishing an energy/climate governance mechanism. The ministers reached their position on 18 December (see EUROPE 11929) and the Parliament has now to take position on the package of amendments adopted jointly by its energy and environment committees on 7 December (see EUROPE 11921). On this dossier, the Presidency supports the Commission’s objective of reducing the administrative burden, increasing transparency and encouraging regional cooperation. It is in favour of a balance between security and the reliability of the information communication system and the need for a degree of flexibility to help the member states to reach their national targets.
The Bulgarian Presidency will also open trilogue negotiations on four texts concerning the electricity market redesign – the draft revised directive on common rules for the electricity market, the draft revised regulation on the electricity market, the draft revised regulation on ACER and the draft regulation on risk preparedness in the electricity sector. The Council reached its negotiation on the two former texts on 18 December (see EUROPE 11928 and 11929) and the last in November (see EUROPE 11907).
Furthermore, energy security and reinforcing electrical and gas interconnections will be the Presidency’s pet topic, as it hopes in particular to work in favour of the development of interconnections between the Western Balkans networks. Diversifying sources and routes of supply and building a European-Balkans gas platform are among its absolute priorities. With regard to this, the Bulgarian authorities hope to arrange a second table round for investors on the Balkans gas platform and a high-level meeting of the group on the gas connection for central and south-east Europe.
An informal meeting of the Energy Council will be held in Luxembourg on 11 June (another has been pencilled in for 26 February) and an informal meeting is scheduled to be held in Sofia on 19 April. This will be followed by a ministerial conference on clean energy the following day. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)