Brussels, 04/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament committee on energy has approved the Eryl Margaret McNally report (Labour Party, UK) on the draft "Intelligent Energy for Europe" multi-annual programme, which intends to fund action in the energy domain between 2003-2006 following the end of the current programme on 31 December 2002. A vote is expected during the plenary in Strasbourg in November before the Energy Council on the 25 November.
While approving the programme objectives, MEPs believe that the budget must be increased by EUR 40 million from the current EUR 215 million proposed by the European Commission to EUR 255 millions. To be more exact, they are proposing to increase the EUR 25 million budget allocated to SAVE programmes (energy efficiency), ALTENER (renewable energy), STEER (energy in transport) and by EUR 15 million for the COOPENER programme renewable energy in developing countries). Other amendments focus on 1) integration of candidate countries because the renewable energy sector is underdeveloped there; 2) priority for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises; 3) transparency and availability of information, particularly during the selection process; 4) strengthening co-ordination between the Community programme via the setting up of a "task force"; 5) the creation of a European Intelligent Energy Agency that provides technical and scientific assistance.