Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-09-24-Speech-3-275"
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"en.20080924.32.3-275"2
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"Mr President, I would like to welcome the Commissioner and Minister Borloo very warmly. We have a number of questions because we feel, quite honestly, that the European Union – and this applies to the Commission and perhaps also to the Council – has devoted too little attention to oil price trends. Although I have the greatest respect for the Commissioner, I believe that we should be doing more here.
Let me turn, firstly, to rising oil prices. I have always pointed out, Commissioner, that substantial profits are being made. What is happening to them? In reality, they are not being invested in alternative energies, for example, or in other important investment projects; instead, they are being used to buy up shares and pay dividends.
Secondly, as to the falling oil prices which exist to some extent as well, does the Commission have an overview of whether these falling oil prices are being passed on to consumers? I am afraid that this is not the case, and I would be grateful for an answer from you on this issue too.
Thirdly, I would like to raise the issue of energy poverty, which we have discussed before, also in connection with the reports which we adopted in committee. There is no reason why the Commission, independently of future legislation, should not bring in a very practical fuel poverty package. This is not only a measure that the Commission could take; it is also a measure which the individual governments must of course take. Here too, though, we would like to see more initiatives from the Commission.
That brings me, fourthly, to the issue of external energy policy and the energy supply, and especially gas, of course, which is a topic we have discussed many times. I hear that you were in Nigeria recently. It would be interesting to hear what initiatives have been adopted in that context.
We are seeing the Nabucco project drifting, to cite just one example. The Americans have achieved the PTC pipeline for oil. Everyone claimed that this was not going to be profitable but it certainly is profitable now, with the surge in oil prices. They simply said, 'This is what we want and what we need to diversify our energy supply'.
What is Europe doing? I think Europe's approach has been far too wishy-washy to achieve certain things and I would like to see the Council and Commission being far more robust and resolute in pursuing diversification for Europe, as this is also important for our energy supply. A particular concern for our group, however, is the issue of energy poverty and what we are doing to address it, for this is still a very serious problem in Europe."@en1
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