As a meeting of the European energy ministers in Luxembourg on Monday 11 June, the Council of the EU is expected to reach its position (‘general orientation’) on the draft revised regulation on the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), with a view to trialogue negotiations with the European Parliament.
This text updates the 2011 regulation on ACER, revising the functioning, role and specific duties of this European agency created in 2011 and headquartered in Ljubljana, Slovenia, which has already succeeded in improving coordination between regulators on cross-border matters. Since its creation, ACER has been entrusted with new and important missions concerning the supervision of the wholesale markets and in the field-border energy infrastructure.
The ACER regulation is the last of four texts on the electricity market redesign tabled by the Commission at the end of 2016 in the framework of the package on clean energy (see EUROPE 11679).
Of the first three of the four texts in question - the draft revised directive on common rules for the electricity market, the draft revised regulation on the electricity market and the draft regulation on risk preparedness in the electricity sector - the Council reached its negotiating position at the end of last year (see EUROPE 11907, 11928 and 11929) and negotiations with the Parliament, to launch at the end of June, will be completed under the Austrian Presidency.
‘Clean energy’ package
The Bulgarian energy minister, Temenoujka Petkova, will report back to the ministers on talks underway in trilogue on the three key legislative proposals of the ‘clean energy’ package: the revised directives on energy efficiency and renewable energies and the regulation on the ‘energy/climate’ system of governance.
The Bulgarian Presidency is determined to conclude the talks launched in February on these three texts, on which the most controversial questions remain outstanding, before the end of its term (see EUROPE 12028). The final trialogues will be held on 13 June for the revised ‘energy efficiency’ and ‘renewables’ directives and on 19 June for the regulation on governance.
The ‘clean energy’ package will be the key theme discussed at an informal lunch on Monday.
Austrian Presidency
The European Commission will report back to the ministers on recent developments in the situation concerning external relations in the energy sector.
Finally, the future Austrian Presidency will present its work programme in the field of energy. Austria will focus its efforts in particular on the organisation of the electricity market and it intends to promote the role of innovative energy technologies - renewable hydrogen, storage technologies - at an informal meeting of the European energy ministers to be held in Linz on 17 and 18 June. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)