Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-19-Speech-1-119"
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentleman, the regulation which is the subject of Mr Seppänen’s report is a most important element of European legislation aimed at completing the task of creating a fully operational competitive European market in natural gas. It is an essential supplementary instrument to the second directive on the internal market in gas. This is because it lays down the minimum requirements for the key aspect of the approach to liberalisation of the energy market, namely access to the networks for third parties.
I should now like to turn to Mr Mombaur’s report. I shall focus on those parts of it concerning measures to ensure the security of natural gas supply.
You will recall that last December, the Council unanimously adopted a political guideline. The Council also amended the legal basis for the Commission’s proposal. Article 100 is now the legal basis instead of Article 95. The European Parliament report we are today debating also supports the change in the legal basis.
The House will be aware that the Commission does not endorse such a change of legal basis. On the occasion of the Council held on 15 December 2003, the Commission issued a statement reserving its position on the change of legal basis. We shall stand by our statement and position when the Council finally adopts the text of the directive in question.
Please allow me to outline the reasons for maintaining our position. I shall be brief.
We appreciate that part of the text of the draft directive refers to the security of supply. The text also contains references to the operation of the internal market, however. The Commission believes that the references to the internal market carry most weight, and that therefore they should determine the legal basis of the directive.
In addition, the Commission is of the opinion that the text adopted by the Council contains a series of standards aimed at bringing a degree of harmonisation to a competitive European internal natural gas market. The Member States are charged with defining a policy to ensure the security of gas supply. It is also for the Member States to define the functions and responsibilities of the participants in the gas market regarding the security of supply. In addition, the Member States are responsible for introducing certain minimum standards. Each country will define its own standards. Nonetheless, a degree of harmonisation will exist, as the standards relate to certain specific criteria for gas.
By contrast, the provisions aimed entirely at security of supply are designed mainly to deal with situations we hope will never arise. I have in mind situations such as a serious political crisis or long-term uncertainty surrounding gas supply.
In the light of all this, the Commission remains convinced that Article 95 is the correct legal basis. The Commission therefore regrets that the Council saw fit to come to a different conclusion, and that it now appears Parliament will do likewise.
Mr President, I should like to conclude by thanking Mr Seppänen and Mr Mombaur for all the work and effort they have put into these two reports. Following on from the various amendments and speeches, I shall say more on a key issue, namely access to the networks. In the Commission’s view, there can be no question of threatening the profitability and future investment in a most crucial element for the development of the market in gas. I refer to the construction and maintenance of gas networks across the Community. This is borne out by the proposal for trans-European energy networks. A number of the main projects for the future already adopted relate to gas networks.
In the context of the first proposal being discussed in the run up to enlargement, the Commission endorses and supports several projects involving major interconnections between gas networks.
I am fully aware the draft regulation on conditions of access to gas transmission networks has given rise to a series of interesting debates over the last few weeks. I should therefore like to take advantage of this opportunity to clarify some issues where I believe further explanation is still required.
It is important to reflect firstly on what the draft regulation is designed to achieve, and secondly, on why is it needed and what significance it has?
Clearly, the regulation supplements the directive on the internal market and fills the gap remaining. Indeed, both the second directive on the internal market in gas and the proposed regulation are based on the principles of non-discrimination, transparency and competition. Clearly, both legislative acts recognise the fundamental importance of access to the network by third parties. The directive, however, only defines the objectives, whereas the regulation lays down a series of minimum requirements to be met with regard to the crucial issue of access to the network by third parties. Obviously, a number of conditions will have to be met in order to comply with the provisions and objectives contained in the directive, as there are qualitative implications to opening up the market in addition to quantitative ones. These conditions are also needed to ensure the market is competitive and can be exploited in full.
This discussion concerns drawing on the experience gained during liberalisation of the gas markets. Experience has shown that failure to meet such requirements will mean that conditions of access to the European market will not meet the needs of opening up the market in gas. Competitiveness and smooth operation of the latter will not be ensured either.
All this has been the subject of debate at the Madrid Forum for a year. Essentially, the participants in that forum laid down the requirements. The latter amount to minimum conditions agreed by all those involved in the Madrid Forum. The aim is to create and guarantee a level playing field for access to this market.
To summarise, if this regulation comes into force, in the version proposed by the Commission, there can be every confidence that the means and systems are in place to allow it to become operational. I must remind the House that our common aim is to create an internal market in gas within the European Union. Gas should be able to flow freely across all the networks in the Union. This means gas will be able to cross borders unrestricted. It also means that no restrictions can be placed either on its movement within the various Member States of the Union. This is the reason why it has been stated specifically that all transport networks are covered by the proposed regulation, not simply cross-border networks.
Turning to the role of the gas sector in the years to come, there can be no doubt that close cooperation between the sector and the Commission will be essential. This should be borne in mind when it comes to defining the general standards for the gas market in the future.
For obvious reasons, the Commission proposed the committee procedure. The latter will have no influence in this regard, however. It is not aimed at restricting the role of the sector and certainly not at excluding it from the drafting of future measures. Quite the opposite is the case. The Commission is open to proposals emphasising the role of the sector here and now and in the future."@en1
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