Brussels, 16/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - Speaking on behalf of the Greens Group at the European Parliament, Rebecca Harms of Germany and Claude Turmes of Luxembourg were highly critical of the fact that the Energy Council has abandoned the Commission's ambitious proposals on renewable energies and unbundling (separation of energy operators' supply and transmission activities) on the internal market. “Energy ministers have given in to the demands of EU energy oligarchs - like EDF, E.ON and RWE - and confirmed their stranglehold on power distribution. This stranglehold is a major barrier to the expansion of independent renewable energy providers and more competition in the EU energy market”, they say regretfully, describing this as a “blow” to consumers and to the environment. The Greens also denounce the Energy Council's lack of ambition regarding the character of the renewable energy share target (20% by 2020), the Commission having proposed a binding target on which ministers did not agree. “Clearly the French and German governments have been long-time champions of their national energy giants. However the fact that the UK government is now also swayed by the arguments of these firms, which are active in the UK market, is a serious cause of concern”, they conclude. (eh)