Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-05-12-Speech-1-084"
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"en.20030512.7.1-084"2
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".
Mr President, I would like to thank all the rapporteurs for their contributions and say to them that I agree with all of them. Our task over all these recent years has been to propose greater energy efficiency, greater savings and use of energy, all for the sake of sustainable development, which means not just guaranteeing competitiveness and quality of service for users, but also respecting the environment.
Neither can we accept the amendment which relates to the obligation to present a proposal for a directive on the promotion of energy produced by means of cogeneration after some years. Although this is a complex issue, I believe we have had sufficient time to be able to develop these aspects within this work.
I understand that the rapporteur's desire is to establish an exact and detailed definition of the electricity produced by means of the generation contained in Annex II. Nevertheless, the Commission cannot accept Amendments Nos 70 and 75, which introduce a detailed calculation method in the legislative text, since we are not convinced that the sector can unanimously accept this method and, even if it could, I did not believe it would be appropriate to include it in the directive, since that would make it an excessively rigid directive.
I understand and support the intentions expressed on the need for specific measures for micro-cogeneration, although certain amendments will not be acceptable – Amendments Nos 38 and 41 I believe – but I would also like to express my agreement with the European Parliament on the need to seek the greatest possible harmonisation of calculation principles and savings in primary energy.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like once again to express my gratitude for the work done and to acknowledge the complexity of the issue, but I would insist that it is one of the elements which can allow us to significantly increase energy efficiency and therefore energy savings, which is one of our priority objectives in terms of energy policy and security of supply.
But I believe that all the honourable Members will agree that what we cannot do, under the banner of ‘cogeneration’, is to ultimately create a system in which more energy is consumed than would be consumed in a separated fashion throughout the process and which furthermore benefits from subsidies which, at the end of the day, are paid for by users, the taxpayer – there are various possibilities – or simply network clients, leading not just to inefficient use of energy and greater energy consumption, but also distortions of competition and a lack of competitiveness throughout the system, which I believe would benefit nobody.
The intention is to support real cogeneration and to prevent subterfuge, which, on the pretext of carrying out cogeneration activity, really involves other types of activity.
I would once again like to thank the rapporteur. Several of you have referred to the complex and difficult discussions. I understand that many aspects are highly complex from a technical point of view and I would therefore like once again to thank you for the effort and quality you have put into your work, despite the fact that the Commission cannot accept some of the elements proposed.
Of the 85 amendments remaining, the great majority are acceptable either totally, partially or following some modification. Nevertheless, there are 28 which we reject entirely. I will provide the honourable Members with a complete copy, Mr President, so that there are no doubts.
Please allow me to comment on some of the points you have raised and to explain the Commission's position. For example, we cannot accept those amendments which change the terminology proposed by the Commission throughout the text since I believe they may lead to error. I am referring to the amendments which replace the term 'useful heat' with 'useable calorific energy' and the removal of the term 'high efficiency' in association with certain types of cogeneration when there is a specific quantifiable saving. Cogeneration must be based on a real and justified energy demand and we must insist on high efficiency as a guarantee of energy saving. I hope that the honourable Members understand the Commission's views in this respect.
I agree with the motivation behind certain amendments which intend to establish national and European Union objectives for developing cogeneration, but I cannot support their content, because to insist on cogeneration objectives will lead to a situation of total conflict within the Council. Amongst other things, because the objective of 18% for each Member State may be mistaken, since it was set in 1997 on the basis of 1994 data and not on the definitions which we are now dealing with. Furthermore, that objective was not indicative for each of the Member States, but rather it was a global objective for the 15 States as a whole. In this regard, in order to produce objectives by Member State, we would have to carry out an analysis, like the one we carried out in the case of ‘green energy’, in which we produced a country-by-country assessment of the potential of the renewable energy sources which could be used to produce electricity in the various countries.
This situation has not been sufficiently assessed. Furthermore, there are currently extremely significant developments in consumption taking place in certain countries which prevent us from setting these individualised objectives in a genuinely realistic manner at the moment; we could do so as a way of expressing our will, but it would not be a realistic element. The honourable Members know that I, when I make a commitment and propose an objective, like it to be realistic, and therefore ambitious but achievable, and that it relate to the potentials and capacities of each State of the Union.
Other amendments deal with the obligations of the States in relation to guaranteeing connection to the electricity network without costs and guaranteeing minimal charges for electricity produced by means of cogeneration. We cannot accept these amendments, since we must guarantee that producers of energy by means of cogeneration have equal access to the electricity network, without any prejudicial discrimination against them, but we must guarantee the distribution and transmission of production provided that it is necessary and under conditions for electricity exchange which are equitable."@en1
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