The European Commission said on November 18 that the EU has made much
progress since the adoption of the Energy Union Framework Strategy nine
months ago but warned that member states lacked sufficient alternatives
to Russian supplies.
“The Energy Union is starting to take shape. […] We should now move
to full scale delivery of all actions needed,” Climate Action and Energy
Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said in a statement.
Summarising efforts this year on building up the EU’s Energy Union,
European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič called for “an urgent
political push” for strategic power and gas links to share resources.
Regarding geopolitics, the Energy Union czar said there has been some
progress, for example the Ukrainian-Russian agreement that is now being
implemented. “But geopolitical challenges will not go away, we should
make sure that we are on top of them,” he said.
The EU needs to “keep pushing for the diversification of energy
sources, routes and suppliers, e.g. through an ambitious LNG strategy,”
Šefčovič said, reiterating that the Commission would scrutinise whether
the Gazprom-backed Nord Stream-2 pipeline complied with EU rules.
He called for continuing discussions with EU partners, in particular
those in the bloc’s immediate neighbourhood. “Discussions that should go
beyond energy security in a narrow sense, but also address energy
efficiency and the development of new technologies in renewable energy,”
Šefčovič said.
The Commission Vice President called for speeding up work on
infrastructure projects. “The procedures of granting permits or
financing issues simply take too long. In that regard, we make some
concrete proposals in the second list of projects of common interest,
which we also adopted today. The list is better focused than in the past
(going from 248 to 195 projects), and more aligned with the core
objectives of the Energy Union (with more projects on electricity,
facilitating the integration of renewables). As I said at the
Infrastructure Forum that was created earlier this month: it’s now a
matter of better monitoring its implementation,” he said.
“Last but not least, my fourth message. With this State of the Energy
Union, we are laying the first building blocks of a ‘governance
mechanism’ that will bring more transparency and predictability to
investors and businesses. The low-carbon and energy efficient
technologies are here. But they need investment,” Šefčovič said.
Member States must develop reliable long-term strategies and actively engage in regional cooperation, he said.
Meanwhile, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe slammed the Energy
Union package, saying it has not lived up to expectations to accelerate a
shift to a fossil fuel free economy in the EU so far. “While the
project remains a puzzle, the EU needs strong and coherent legislative
proposals, expected next year, to stay ahead of the game on climate
action,” CAN said.
The head of EU Climate and Energy Policy at WWF European Policy
Office, Imke Lübbeke, said the Energy Union concept remains a vision
with blind spots. “Despite calling for a ‘move away from an economy
driven by fossil fuels’ the Commission makes no mention of coal phase
out, and includes ambitious plans for gas infrastructure,” WWF said.
“Despite wanting to be the ‘world number one in renewables’ the
Commission fails to spell out how renewables can be at the heart of an
energy transition which benefits people and our environment.”
http://neurope.eu/article/energy-union-to-boost-diversification-of-sources/