Brussels, 10/06/2009 (Agence Europe) - Under the chairmanship of the Czech Minister for Industry, Vladimír Tošovský, the Energy Council to be held in Luxembourg on 12 June will devote its work to two chapters of the "energy security and solidarity" package, proposed by the European Commission in November 2008 (EUROPE 9782), the legislation on oil stocks and measures on energy efficiency.
Oil stocks - Further to the guideline debate at the Energy Council of 19 February (EUROPE 9845), the Energy Ministers are expected to reach a political agreement on the proposed directive to replace existing Community legislation obliging the Member States to hold a minimum level of stocks of oil or oil products (directives 06/67/EC and 73/238/EC and decision 68/416/EC of the Council) to improve the functioning of current Community mechanisms in terms of oil stocks, thereby guaranteeing the availability of oil in the event of crisis. The object of the text is to improve the regulatory framework, encourage the creation of a central storage entity and the voluntary creation of specific stores, i.e. reserves of products created specifically for the purposes of this directive, and to bring the internal rules of the EU into line with the action carried out by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on putting emergency oil stores into circulation. During the preparatory work of the Council, which was based around the frequency of the information reports on oil stores (monthly is preferred to weekly), the emergency procedures, the central storage entities and the right of economic operators to delegate the storage and the compromise proposal put forward by the Presidency won the support of all delegations.
Energy efficiency - The Presidency will present the ministers with a progress report on the latest package of measures on energy efficiency: - the revised draft directive on the labelling of products, which aims to extend the scope of application of directive 92/75/EC, which is currently limited to domestic appliances, to products which have an impact on energy consumption, such as products used for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes, and certain non-energy consuming products such as glazing, window frames and doors; - the draft directive on the labelling of pneumatic products, which aims to create a labelling system to be applied to tyres for private cars, light utility vehicles and heavy utility vehicles, in relation to their fuel efficiency, their wet adhesion performance and external road noise; - the revised draft directive on the energy performance of buildings which clarifies, reinforces and extends the scope of application of directive 2002/91/EC both by obliging the Member States to bring in a minimum performance standards for buildings which are substantially renovated, by tightening up provisions on energy performance certificates, inspections of heating and air conditioning systems, requirements for energy performance and information, encouraging the Member States to create frameworks to promote the construction of low-energy or energy-neutral buildings, and by obliging the public sector to take a more active involvement. A progress report also takes account of the execution measures presented in the first half of the year by the Commission to the Council and the Parliament under the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, in the context of the "eco-design" and "energy labelling" framework directives.
International relations - The Commission will report back on the results of the EU/Russia partnership Council and on the South Corridor Summit and on developments in the dispute over gas between Russia and Ukraine. (E.H./trans.fl)