Strasbourg, 05/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Parliament and the Council should reach an agreement on the Directive on the promotion of renewable energies, after the adoption in second reading of the report by Mechtild Rothe (ESP, German) in plenary session in Strasbourg. In fact, Mrs Rothe felt during the vote that the amendments retained by the Parliament should be the object of an agreement with the Council.
This Directive set the general objective: increase the share of renewable energies in the European energy consumption to 12% in 2010 and to 22.1% of electricity consumption. The Member States have also accepted "indicative" targets on a country basis, that go from 6% for Belgium to 78% for Austria, rich in hydroelectric power (see EUROPE of 7 December, p.6). The Parliament retained this "indicative" nature of the State targets, but while adding that "if it proves necessary for the achievement of the objectives, the Commission will have to submit to the Council and the European Parliament a proposal capable of foreseeing obligatory targets.
The MEPs adopted an amendment that foresees the exclusion of the processing of waste from renewable energies, which may enjoy State aid. According to the formula compromise presented by the EPP, support for renewable energies must be compatible with the other Community objectives, notably with regards to the processing of waste. The incineration of unprocessed urban waste should not as a result by the object of an aid under the future system concerning renewable energies unless this promotion is of a nature to question the said hierarchy.
According to the same line as that expressed by the government within the Council, the British, Belgian and Dutch notably insist for energy from the processing of waste to be included in the scope of the Directive, while the Germans, Swedish and Spanish want the exclusion. The rapporteur, Mrs Rothe, underlined in her explanatory statement that considering, as the Council, that the incineration of waste is a "renewable" source, is in contradiction not only with the scientific reality, but also with the Green image of electricity. However, the EP rejected an amendment that would have specified the nature of the waste, which can be included in the definition of "biomass".
The Parliament introduced another significant amendment to ensure access of renewable energies to the electricity network on the market where storage is not possible, by underlining that "for the management of production installations, the transport system operators give the priority to the installations using renewable sources of energy where this is permitted by the functioning of the national electricity system. It also adds that the Member States ensure that the passing on of transport and distribution costs do not lead to any discrimination towards electricity produced from renewable sources.
The European Commissioner for Transport, Loyola de Palacio, stated her true pleasures that just one year after my proposals, the Council and Parliament have been able to agree to respect the figured national targets and make such clear commitments in favour of green electricity.