The
European Commission will present the priorities of its 2010-2014 energy action
plan during a meeting of energy ministers at the end of May.
The EU executive will inform
ministers next month about the long-awaited plan, which will set out policy
priorities in the field of energy for the next five years, Energy Commissioner
Günther Oettinger's spokesperson confirmed.
Originally intended to take effect
this year, it has already been delayed and the EU executive is now expected to
adopt the plan at the beginning of 2011.
The plan represents the follow-up
to the 2007-2009 blueprint approved by European leaders in 2007, which launched
a common European energy policy. It resulted in the adoption of the energy and
climate package, which turned the EU's '20-20-20' goals into legislation, and
the third energy market package, which sought to further liberalise the bloc's
energy market.
Spain
,
which holds the EU's six-month rotatingpresidency, had pushed for the
plan to be adopted at the spring summit in March, with no success.
Madrid
presented a report outlining the priorities of the energy action plan
for 2010-2014 at an informal meeting of energy ministers in February, taking
the EU's SecondStrategic Energy Review as the basis of the future
strategy.
While the 2007-2009 plan
concentrated on sustainability and the internal market, the new roadmap would
focus on security of supply issues and technology development,
Spain
said, noting that it would also include long-term priorities and a
strategic analysis of the energy sector of 2030-2050.
Some upcoming proposals have already been announced, including a
revision of the EU's Energy Efficiency Action Plan. The new energy commissioner
said he would present proposals at the beginning of next year, after the
outgoing Commission had decided against presenting a draft.
The EU executive is also
considering presenting a new infrastructure package in November, which would
seek to address the integration of renewable energies into the grid and the
development of smart grids.
This spring, the Commission will
publish a communication on the evaluation of the Trans-European Energy Networks
(TEN-E), which rank energy infrastructure projects that are eligible for EU
assistance.
A new energy security and
infrastructure instrument to replace TEN-E is due to be presented in June,
according to sources.