Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-15-Speech-4-030"
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"en.20070215.4.4-030"2
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".
I should like to begin by thanking all the MEPs from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the draftsmen of the opinions of the various committees that have delivered opinions on this report for the support and the high-quality contributions that they have provided. I should also like to thank Mr Almunia for his encouragement on various occasions.
Much can be done inside the European area, through energy savings, promoting efficiency, diversifying sources and protecting the environment. Yet the crucial objective can only be achieved via dialogue with all of the other regions of the world, including both those that are predominantly energy producers and those that consume increasing amounts of that energy. The EU’s foreign policy in this new century needs to incorporate the energy dimension as a priority, and for this to be successful it should be based on three essential axes: solidarity with the EU and its structural principles and values, solidarity with developing countries and solidarity with the environmental dimension of the world in which we live and without which we cannot survive.
By adopting this report, Parliament will, as on previous occasions, be demonstrating its desire and honouring its responsibility to take action in an area that is essential to the citizens’ well-being, in spite of all the difficulties. We would like to hope that the Spring Summit of the Heads of State or Government is characterised by progress and is not limited to well-meaning statements that do not solve any of the current problems and that only serve to create or store problems for the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, we recently heard the Commission President say in Parliament that Europe cannot aspire to speak to the world with one voice on energy policy when, internally, it is utterly incapable of speaking with 27 voices. This is also probably the most important message contained in the report before us, and this message has a clear target: the European Council and the Member States, and the Spring Summit in Brussels on 8 and 9 March is an appropriate date for that message to be heard. The time has therefore come to move from mere statements of intent to action, a change of attitude that must take place now or it will never happen.
Now is clearly not the best time for us to go into a detailed analysis of the nature, the causes and the consequences of the various energy crises that we have suffered. The report has much to say on these issues and even if it did not we would all still be able to recall the distinguishing features of each of the four oil crises that the European economy has had to contend with in the past 50 years. It is clear that both from the point of view of the new economic paradigm – what might be termed ‘globalisation’ – and from the political and strategic perspective – what might be termed the ‘absence of multilateralism’ – the situation today is vastly different from what it was in the middle of last century. Yet it is precisely for that reason that we must be intelligent and humble enough to acknowledge that different problems always require different solutions and that the most complex problems require the most ambitious and radical solutions.
It is undeniable that the turbulence we have seen in the energy markets and the volatility of prices has led to slower economic growth and to steeper price rises. It is also unthinkable that these setbacks have not been made worse by intense speculative activity around the price of raw materials in the energy sector. It is obvious that strongly integrated economic areas, as, fortunately, is the case of the EU, are able in the short term to absorb shocks and to pursue their main objectives by implementing their economic policies appropriately. Yet it is also true that the slowdown in the pace of growth and the loss of competitiveness are inevitably reflected in fewer jobs being created; moreover, the current lack of job creation will never be offset by the jobs that may be created in the future.
The EU is made up of Member States with differing growth rates and manufacturing structures, and accordingly their levels of dependency are very different. The difficulties experienced by some Member States will always have to be added to the global difficulties experienced and be paid for by the whole economic and political area to which they belong.
The Commission has warned us of an unavoidable outcome unless measures are taken immediately. Europe’s dependency in this sector will increase to unsustainable levels by 2030, and we all know that such dependency will come at a price, in terms of not only the economic impact but also the political and strategic relations that will become entrenched in the years ahead.
The issue of energy is therefore one of central importance for the future of Europe and it is above all a political issue requiring political and Europe-wide responses and commitments. Even the more technical issues, such as the discovery and development of new alternatives and the creation of interlinked regulation systems, can only be successfully addressed if approached from a supranational perspective, without which it will be impossible to mobilise the enormous financial resources needed for research and development.
It is therefore suggested that the Union, via its institutions, engage in a global debate on the issue designed to generate interest among the economic agents, the bodies representing the sector and the citizens. It should then go on to assess the true impact of using different energy sources, and the possible combinations thereof, on economic growth, on environmental protection and on reducing the detrimental effect on climate change.
At this stage, as recent events have shown, the Member States on their own are not in a position to tackle these problems. What is needed is a proper, shared European energy policy, as the Commission has suggested, although that will depend entirely on the Council saying that it wants one. As we know, not only is the EU dangerously dependent on the energy it imports, but it also has not, as a whole, guaranteed the security of production of the energy it needs to meet its objectives of growth and the well-being of its citizens."@en1
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