Åre, 24/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - European energy ministers will take a decision in December on the site of the future European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER). This was announced by Sweden's Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson on Thursday, on the sidelines of an informal meeting of the Council. She said: “Yesterday [Ed.: Wednesday], we reached an agreement on the procedure and we shall take a decision in December”. Minsters will then decide which of the three candidate countries - Slovakia, Slovenia or Romania - will host the ACER.
Although the creation of the agency has in principle already been agreed, the question of the agency's location is a last stumbling block to getting it up and running. “We need this agency. All we have to do now is discuss the matter and decide where it is to be located”, said Ms Olofsson, President-in-Office of the Energy Council. Commenting on the agreement reached by the European partners, she said, moreover, that this decision was a “very clear message to the Commission and to the world of energy”.
Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs was delighted with the decision and stressed that it was “crucial for the Commission to be able to prepare implementation of the package on the internal energy market”. He also said the agency, in its capacity as a control instrument, was the grand finale of the energy package, describing it as the “central energy bank”. Finally, he hoped it would be “fully up and running by March 2011”.
“By the end of the year”, the Commission is to adopt “a communication on funding the strategic energy technology plan” (Plan SET), Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas announced on Friday 24 July, during the second day of the informal Council of energy and environment ministers. The Commission, he said, will adopt a communication on the revised action plan for energy efficiency, also by the end of the year. Putting its hand in its pocket, the Commission plans to “help Europe maintain its dominant position” on the energy technologies front, he said. This financial effort is part of the move towards developing an eco-efficient European economy that will help to cope with the economic crisis. This eco-efficient economy, to which the Swedish EU Presidency gives pride of place, will allow Europe not only to “better ensure its energy supply security but also to create jobs and ensure a strong industrial sector”, Mr Dimas says. (S.B./transl.jl)