Brussels, 21/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - Presenting the energy policy priorities of the Czech Presidency to the European Parliament energy committee (chaired by Angelika Niebler, EPP-ED, Germany), Czech Industry Minister Martin Riman said, on Wednesday 21 January, that energy security was the number one priority of a Presidency which had already been required to take urgent action in this area, arbitrating in the recent gas trade dispute between Russian and Ukraine.
The Czech Presidency will pursue the development of the EU energy policy. Featuring in its programme are integration of the internal energy market, improving energy efficiency, making better use of energy resources and diversifying energy sources and supply routes, with all the steps to be taken reflecting the integrated approach on climate. Its priorities are built on the EU Energy Policy Action Plan 2007-2009and the 2nd Energy Policy Strategic Analysis on which the Energy Council will make a submission to the European Spring Council in preparation for the Action Plan 2010-2012.
To enhance EU energy security, the Presidency will concentrate its action in three areas: identifying action to be taken on infrastructure through a medium- to long-term supply and demand assessment; support for energy infrastructure; development of contractual relations with producer and transit regions and third countries so as to ensure reliable supply and to diversify supply sources and routes. The accent, then, will be on external energy relations, with particular attention given to Russia, Ukraine and the countries of the Caspian Sea. In March, there is to be a summit on the southern gas corridor, bringing together the EU, the countries of the Caspian Sea and Turkey. The Presidency also plans to hold an extraordinary meeting of the EU-Russia Permanent Partnership Council on the eve of the EU-Russia Summit in Kazan and an international conference on gas transit in Ukraine. It will also highlight improving interconnections, the construction of the missing segments in the current energy transmission and transport infrastructure network in the EU and improvement in cooperation between Transmission System Operators (TSOs). The Presidency will also work for an agreement on the review of rules on the creation of oil reserves and on the review of the directive on gas supply security.
On the internal electricity and gas market, the Presidency wants to reach 2nd reading agreement on the 3rd legislative package on liberalisation which still has to overcome the thorny issue of separating ownership of energy operators' generation/distribution and transport/network activities - ownership unbundling - an option which, according to Riman, fills Prague with little enthusiasm. “We have to draw the lessons from the crisis we have just undergone. If our organisation is fragmented, how can our companies hope to stand up to a company as big as Gazprom? That's the question I ask myself,” the Czech minister said. The Presidency intends to pay particular attention to the issues of investment and interconnections. It also intends to launch a debate on a single transparent tariff for international electricity transport for the needs of the internal market and for trade in electricity with third countries. At the end of January, the Presidency will hold a conference on the issue of the internal electricity market and improving energy security.
On energy efficiency, the Czech Presidency will continue talks on consumption matters (labelling of energy efficiency of household electrical goods, energy efficiency of buildings and energy labelling on tyres) and will work for the 1st reading adoption of the reworked draft framework directive on eco-design requirements. On low-carbon energy sources, the Czech Presidency will encourage an open, critical debate on all available sources of energy and on their economic use inline with EU climate undertakings. This debate will focus on: - support for new technologies, energy savings, opportunities and risks related to nuclear energy, opportunities and risks related to biofuels and the impact of wind power on the stability of transport networks. The Presidency intends, of course, to highlight the work of the Nuclear Forum, which has been hosted every alternate year since 2007 by the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prague intends, too, to deepen discussions on implementing the strategic plan for energy policies (SET-Plan,), and on clean coal technology and on pilot projects for the capture and storage of carbon emissions. (E.H./transl.rt)