Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-13-Speech-2-327"
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Chichester, and congratulating him warmly on the quality of his work and his efforts to produce a truly remarkable report.
With regard to renewable energy sources, their importance will depend on the speed with which we can overcome a whole series of technical, social and economic obstacles. The renewable energies directive, in relation to electricity, offers a guide for the direction we should take. I know that we have been criticised for not making sufficient progress with this directive, but we are still trying to achieve our objective of doubling the percentage of renewable energy sources by the end of this decade. In this respect, ladies and gentlemen, I refer to the previous intervention by Mr Souchet, we approved a few days ago an important and ambitious proposal on biofuels, which I hope will be approved and supported both by the Council and by Parliament.
With regard to nuclear energy, I am very satisfied with the frank and constructive exchange of views which the presentation of the Green Paper has made possible. Some Member States have announced a moratorium or the progressive dismantling of their capacity for nuclear generation. But one Member State has clearly stated its intention to go ahead with nuclear energy and to build a new reactor. In any event, the abandonment of nuclear energy by some Member States may make a significant hole in our energy capacity and speed up the use of forms of energy generation which emit more greenhouse gases and, therefore, create problems in terms of our Kyoto commitments.
Although I have total respect for the decisions taken by the Member States, naturally, I believe that in these circumstances it is very difficult to confront the problem of climate change if we maintain a diversified energy base. I believe that it is advisable to keep all the options open while the research into the management and elimination of waste is intensified and that is essentially the greatest problem with nuclear energy, given the progress made in terms of the safety of nuclear plants.
The debate on the Green Paper is still open. It is therefore premature to anticipate its final conclusions. However, the Commission is continuing, and will continue, to make proposals in the quest for new perspectives on energy supply. We are working with you and the Council on the internal market legislation relating to one of the pillars of our strategy, in terms of both gas and electricity. We must continue looking into the tax framework and pricing and, specifically, the guarantee of a mechanism for setting energy prices which reflects all the quantifiable external social and environmental costs.
Also in this field, we will shortly present certain energy network interconnections which will further integrate the national markets and therefore strengthen the security of the whole market resulting from this integration.
Furthermore, I hope soon to present a proposal on the combined generation of heat and electricity, which will allow us to make progress in the battle for efficiency. Somebody said earlier that we have done little. But I would remind you, ladies and gentlemen, of a proposal on buildings, which is very important (buildings represent 40% of energy consumption, and there are margins for savings of almost 20%), the proposal we will present to improve the current regulation on combined generation of heat and electricity, and a general proposal, a framework proposal, which will provide measures for all types of electrodomestic or electrical equipment within buildings.
With regard to demand, the benefits of energy saving which have been raised are clear and, I insist, we have presented many serious, solid and important initiatives, and we are going to present those which I have just mentioned. With regard to transport and its effect on demand, the Commission makes a very detailed analysis in the White Paper, of which I have mentioned some important aspects when I spoke about the proposal on biofuels which was approved last week.
The report also clearly recognises the international nature of the challenges relating to energy supply. The increase in our dependency, not only on oil, but also on gas, makes it essential that we study the broader geopolitical repercussions of the current market situation. The Commission intends to produce a report on this issue next year; of course, we would like to use the opportunities offered by the Sixth research and development framework programme and the successor to the energy framework programme as instruments for supporting our strategy.
Ladies and gentlemen, the security of the energy supply is an inextricable element of a balanced social and economic development. The debate on the Green Paper has highlighted, as never before, the delicate interrelationship between energy needs, environmental objectives and balanced economic development. Many of the ideas presented in this report may be important elements in guaranteeing the security of our energy supply. As I have explained, some of them have already been implemented, but they are not yet a defined strategy.
Europe needs to establish a stable long-term framework to guarantee the security of energy supply, which can deal with changes in international economic and environmental circumstances, and which creates a firm basis for the future role of Europe on the international stage.
I am aware of the scale of this challenge, given both the size and complexity of the issue itself and the number and diversity of the parties affected by it, inside and outside Parliament.
Bearing this in mind, I would like to use the European Council in Barcelona next spring as a launch pad for a European strategy on energy supply, and you can rest assured that, in drawing up this strategy, the ideas contained in this report will be taken into account. I hope to have further opportunities to debate this idea with you.
I would like to congratulate Mr Chichester once again on his wonderful report and the work he has done. I also congratulate and thank Mrs Ayuso for her opinion on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, and I thank everybody who has spoken on this report and this debate. I promise that we will continue working on it when the conclusions closing the general debate on the Green Paper produced by the Commission are finally presented.
When I speak of the security of energy supply, I am not just referring to the physical supply, but also to energy systems and services which are ecologically, socially and economically sustainable. In this respect, the security of energy supplies is essential to our development and security in the broadest sense, and recent events have demonstrated this even more clearly. In fact, the tragic events of 11 September have highlighted our dependency on imports and the security of our installations.
The risk factor has multiplied overnight: the risk of premeditated damage to installations and infrastructures, the risk of volatility on the oil markets (with its prejudicial effect on the world economy) and the risk of interruption to our supply, both internal and external. All of this means that it is more important than ever to provide appropriate measures for responding in the event of emergency.
It is encouraging to note from the responses to the Green Paper – more than 150 formal responses from different organisations of all types – the interest in issues relating to the security of energy supply throughout Europe and beyond. I am pleased that the Commission’s analysis has received general support and that there is a considerable degree of awareness of the risks and problems faced by Europe in terms of guaranteeing the security of the energy supply and the international nature of those risks and problems. This is reflected in the excellent report you have before you.
Many respondents have accepted that it is no longer possible to view energy supply as being independent from economic and environmental objectives. Furthermore, a series of points in the report confirm that the European Parliament has clearly understood that there is a close link between these three objectives and the balance between them must be maintained.
The responses also confirm that European public opinion shares the Commission’s desire to confront the problem of climate change. I am pleased to see that the European Parliament not only shares this concern, but that it has many ideas on the instruments which may help us to achieve this objective. We will carefully study these ideas when we prepare our response to the consultation on the Green Paper. I am not going to refer to it at the moment, but I would like to state very clearly, ladies and gentlemen, that the issue has given rise to debates in numerous national Parliaments, in some of which either I or high level officials from the Commission have participated, and in various universities, companies and non-governmental organisations, thanks, amongst other things, to the use of the Internet, which is a vehicle for openness within society, which, although not yet concluded, gives us an idea of the importance of this issue in all social fields of the European Union.
I am especially pleased to highlight the insistence on energy efficiency. Like you, I believe that there are huge areas for possible improvements. Your ideas are clear, in relation to the supply, in the context of the general recognition that there should be diversification of energy sources and supply origins.
As the report accepts, no individual source is completely lacking in drawbacks: they all have a cost and they all seem necessary. With regard to coal, we have no alternative but to maintain basically subsidised production, at least for a certain amount of time. In any event, the Commission’s proposed regulation confirms the importance we attach to own-production, but, above all, the importance of developing clean coal technology, which will allow us to use the only ample reserve of fossil fuel that the European Union has and promote the possibility of improving and reducing emissions internationally. In this way, furthermore, we will maintain cutting-edge technology which offers all sorts of possibilities for our industry."@en1
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