Brussels, 17/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - As soon as the package on energy security and solidarity was adopted on 13 November (EUROPE 9782), the Greens of the European Parliament, speaking via Rebecca Harms of Germany and Claude Turmes of Luxembourg, laid into the new strategy of the European Commission, which they say is based on incomplete and flawed research. "Energy efficiency must be a priority, as the cheapest and most effective way of improving energy security. The Commission's assumption for the future energy needs of the EU is not in line with these objectives", they state in a press release, stressing that the projections of the Commission assume total energy savings of 13% by 2020 and not 20%, even though this is an objective laid down by the European Council of March 2007. This is a criticism shared by Greenpeace, which accuses the Commission of downgrading the importance of energy efficiency in its strategy. "The review of existing efficiency legislation may bring marginal improvements, but the Commission has shied away from the most obvious and simple solution- to make the EU's 20% efficiency target binding", states the environmental NGO. Greenpeace also accuses the Commission of planning new financial advantages for the nuclear sector, which will by no means help climate policy, whilst "bringing down nuclear safety standards to the lowest common denominator". "A rigorous strategy based on renewable energy and energy efficiency is the best response to concerns of security of supply. The Commission should be discussing phasing out dirty, expensive and unreliable technologies like coal and nuclear, it stressed. The NGO WWF also criticised "major contradictions" between the policies put forward by the Commission, which are "irrelevant" for the environmental and economic objectives of the EU. Although, like Greenpeace, the WWF criticises the fact that the Commission has not proposed making the objectives of 20% by 2020 accompanying the Community action plan on energy efficiency binding. Both NGOs nonetheless welcomed the proposals of the Commission on the energy transport networks, with plans for the European supergrid, made up of an offshore wind energy network in the North Sea, the Baltic interconnection plan and the Mediterranean ring project linking Europe with North Africa to exploit its sun energy potential. This initiative was also welcomed by the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA).
Having come in for criticism from the Greens and the environmental NGOs, the Commission can at least rely on support from the European construction industry, represented by the European Building Confederation (EBC) and the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), which welcomed its proposed revision of the directive on the energy performance of buildings and extending the scope of application of the directive to buildings of less than 1000 m2. In general, the scope of the proposals of the Commission was welcomed at the European Parliament by centrist French MEP Anne Laperrouze (ALDE), who welcomes the fact that energy security and solidarity have been put at the very heart of its second strategic analysis. However, Ms Laperrouze regrets the fact that R&D has not been made a major element of this analysis between now and 2050. For the Liberals, UK MEP Fiona Hall welcomed the proposal to review the "buildings" directive. However, like the Greens, Ms Hall voiced her astonishment at the contradiction between the Commission's projections and its commitment to improve energy efficiency by 20% between now and 2020. She added that the figures of the Commission suggest a drop of 12% in primary energy demand in 2020, but this would only in fact be 8% compared to real demand for primary energy in 2005. Speaking on behalf of the EPP-ED, the German member Herbert Reul welcomed "a new sense of realities" in the Commission's package, which is based notably on the proposal, in the revised illustrative nuclear programme, to extend the life of existing power stations. The European atomic Forum Foratom also welcomed the fact that the Commission considers nuclear energy to be a "key component" of the EU's transition to a low-carbon economy. However, Foratom calls on the Commission to propose concrete measures and an action plan to promote nuclear energy and long-term investment in this sector. (E.H./trans.fl)