Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-01-17-Speech-2-153"
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"en.20060117.19.2-153"2
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".
Mr President, honourable Members, the events in the first week of January surrounding the dispute over gas between the Russian Federation and Ukraine have made it abundantly clear to us that we cannot take the security of our energy supply for granted.
All things considered, if we want to guarantee the European public and industry a secure supply of energy, we will have to opt for an approach that incorporates various strategies. Within the European Community, we will have to further diversify energy supply by making more use of renewable energy sources, which may entail a three-fold increase in the use of biomass by 2010. European energy supply is to be founded
on the cost-effective use of renewable energies. Other options for Europe will include the use of coal with clean technologies and, in the long term, of hydrogen.
The Austrian view, however, is that the use of nuclear energy is not an option. Where supply is concerned, it will be necessary to press on with our efforts to create a European single internal market and increase investments in energy supply.
Turning to consumption, on the other hand, energy efficiency in the Community needs to be improved. There are at present great disparities between the Member States in terms of energy efficiency, defined as energy consumption per unit of the gross domestic product. As our basis for this, we can take the agreement between Parliament and the Council on the directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services.
What happened at New Year also showed how important are the European Union’s relations with its partners. These partnerships need to be sustained consistently both at multilateral level – whether through the dialogues in the International Energy Forum or under the energy treaty with South-Eastern Europe – and at bilateral level as part of the EU’s dialogues with Russia and the OPEC. Willingness to cooperate is an absolutely essential element in securing energy supply.
There are, then, a multiplicity of options available to us. It is for us to make effective and speedy use of them. As securing the European Union’s future energy supply is in the interests of all Member States, I am convinced that we will succeed in doing that.
Gas imported from Russia accounts for over one quarter of that consumed in the European Union, and, since up to 80% of that is transported via Ukraine, the uninterrupted and continuous supply of gas from Russia via Ukraine to the European Union is absolutely vital to households and businesses. The fact is, though, that there was up to a 50% shortfall in supply in some EU Member States on the first and second days of January this year. A diplomatic initiative on the part of the Commission and the Austrian Presidency of the Council helped to put a speedy end to this situation. This leads me on to mention Moldova and Russia, and to ask both of them to return to the negotiating table in search of a longer-term solution to the problems existing between them. It appears from reports in the media that an agreement has been reached for a period of three months, but that is certainly a very short-term solution.
What matters now is that we learn the right lessons from what has happened. As I see it, there are three things we need to do if Europe’s supply of natural gas is to be secure in the long term, and I shall now set out what they are.
Firstly, there is a need for diversification in the sources from which natural gas is supplied and the routes by which it is transported. Plans are in hand for a series of new pipelines with the capacity to transport a total of 140 billion cubic metres per annum, and these must be built without delay. One project that looks likely to be successful is the ‘Nabucco’ pipeline, 3 300 km long and running from Austria to the area around the Caspian Sea via Turkey, which, when finally completed in around 2020, will be able to transport up to 31 billion cubic metres of natural gas along a new route into the European Union.
Secondly, we need to push forward the use of liquefied natural gas. The current capacity of existing facilities amounts to some 60 billion cubic metres per annum. Projects are up and running in certain countries to establish new terminals or extend existing plant. It is to be expected that capacity will increase to 160 billion cubic metres per annum by 2010. The European Union should aim for a five-fold increase in the quantity of LNG that it imports by 2010, which will enable it to receive supplies from other regions not capable of being connected to the EU by means of a pipeline.
There is, thirdly, a need for greater transparency on the hydrocarbon markets in order to make prices less volatile and to ensure stable prices that reflect the market, while also improving the quality of information on the quantities of natural gas imported, and in this a considerable level of investment is essential. It is crucial that there should be as inviting a prospect as possible for investment in energy if businesses are to be prepared to actually make these investments at all.
In the short term, we will have to give consideration to how we avoid situations of this sort coming about, or how we can deal with them without fallout. One option, to be sure, is greater integration of the supply network in the European Union, which would have the effect of simplifying the exchange of gas within the Community, thus reducing the dependency of individual Member States on certain states by which gas is supplied or through which it has to pass. Having more gas traded within the Community does, of course, presuppose the availability of gas in the necessary quantities and that is why we also have to work at supporting the establishment of liquid wholesale markets.
Another short-term instrument is without doubt the storage of gas reserves to bridge the gap when supplies are interrupted for up to two months, although account will need to be taken of specific national requirements, such as whether to use geological voids, power stations or industrial premises for storage purposes.
The Austrian Presidency will give priority to energy policy and in particular to secure energy supplies. Security of supply, alongside competitiveness and of course sustainability, is one of the pillars on which European energy policy reposes, both at national and at Community level. Europe must redouble its efforts to be equal to the challenges presented by energy policy, for by 2030 the world will be using 50% more energy and Europe will become even more markedly dependent on the importation of fossil energy sources."@en1
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