Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-07-04-Speech-1-233-000"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20110704.29.1-233-000"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, firstly I would like to thank the shadow rapporteurs for the fruitful help they have given me in drafting this report. I would also like to extend the same comments to the other Members, fellow Members from the Parliamentary committee.
Sixty years ago, the European Coal and Steel Community was created, and there is no better way of commemorating this event now than by discussing energy infrastructures in Europe.
Today, the objectives of the European Union’s policy are clear – the common European internal market, the drive for renewable energy as a means of or instrument for fighting against climate change, security of energy supply and diversification of energy sources.
In the Treaty of Lisbon, one title, Title XXI, is devoted to energy, and it sets out the commitments that I have just mentioned, as well as endorsing the interconnection of energy grids. Well, the goal of the report we have drafted is to improve those energy infrastructures that, in the opinion of the European Commission, are outdated and poorly interconnected. For example, the generation of wind energy in the North Sea and Baltic Sea is increasing spectacularly, and with the immense renewable energy potential in southern Europe and North Africa we find ourselves up against problems relating to large-scale electricity storage and the recharging needs of electric vehicles, as well as many other urgent issues.
It is impossible to tackle all of this if we do not design new grids and new connections, both within the European Union and in third countries. This is why in coming years we will have to make progress in determining the infrastructure we need: a) establishing the criteria that will make it possible to select projects that are of interest to Europe; b) eliminating ‘energy islands’; c) ensuring that these projects are carried out within reasonable timescales, and mediating to find ways of resolving the conflict-ridden subject of authorisation and permit procedures in the Member States; and d) ensuring funding that will attract and stimulate private investment, without prejudice to whatever public support may be necessary.
Energy efficiency and saving, as well as smart grids, are pivotal ingredients in the new kind of design contained in the report, because we believe that by reducing energy demand we can reduce our dependency on imports, which will have a knock-on effect on our infrastructure requirements.
The fundamental concern of this report from the very outset has been the processing of permits and authorisations to enable the required work to be carried out. At the moment, projects drag on endlessly. This happens due to people’s opposition to seeing turbines or other kinds of facilities springing up in their neighbourhoods. We feel that this conflict could be solved by providing early public information and setting up a warning system for cases in which a country’s authorities do not deal with an application within a reasonable amount of time.
We are up against ambitious objectives, and this calls for everyone to be involved. In this regard, the industry companies, who are rightly calling out for a stable regulatory framework as the best way of assuring financing for their efforts, are of fundamental importance.
Until now, the European Union’s energy policy, both outside and within its borders, has lacked any decisively European impetus. Europe must speak with one voice, which must be clearly audible and ring out loudly in the vaults of the European building, because it is our very energy fragility that must give us the strength to build a Europe that is solid and vigorous in terms of energy, and a worthy successor, in this anniversary year, to the great invention of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which was our very origin."@en1
|
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples