EU Policy News

EU Energy Council call on EC to table initiatives on smart grids including clean vehicles and energy storage

Published on: February 5, 2011

The Energy Council that was held on Februay 4, 2011 organized by the Hungarian presidency focused on  two sectors – energy  and innovation. It agreed on a  number of priority actions whose implementation should  contribute  to enhancing growth  and job creation as well as promoting Europe’s competitiveness:
1.   Early adoption of the Commission’s proposal for a Regulation  on energy markets integrity and transparency;

2.  Efforts are needed to modernise and expand Europe’s energy infrastructure and to interconnect networks across borders, in line with the priorities identified by the Commission  communication on energy infrastructure: it stated that  no EU Member State should remain isolated from the European gas and  electricity networks after 2015;

3.  Bulk of the important financing costs for infrastructure investments will have to be  delivered by the market, with costs recovered through tariffs.  The Commission is invited to report by June 2011 to the Council on  figures on the investments likely to be needed, on suggestions on how to respond to financing requirements and on how to address possible obstacles to infrastructure investment;

4.  As of 1 January 2012, all Member States should include energy efficiency standards taking account of the EU headline target in public procurement for relevant public buildings and services;

5. EU Commission  to  table new initiatives on smart grids, including those linked to the development of clean vehicles, energy storage, sustainable bio fuels and energy saving solutions for cities.

Further Reading »

Positive Discussion on ETS and Energy Efficiency

The meeting of Energy ministers in Denmark on Friday 20 April 2012 concluded by reaching an agreement on the approach recommended by the European Commission in its energy roadmap to 2050. Europe’s energy future will involve higher efficiency, more renewables and infrastructure upgrades, they said.
The ministers backed the roadmap’s ‘no regret’ options, which the commission says would apply to all decarbonisation scenarios envisaged in the document, regardless of the choices made by member states.

..read more Updated 24 Apr, 2012
EU Parliament adopts report on EC proposal for a new Energy Tax Directive

On April 19 the EU Parliament adopted the report of Luxemburg’s MEP Astrid Lulling (EPP), and Swedish shadow Rapporteur, Olle Ludvigson (S&D)

..read more Updated 19 Apr, 2012
MEPs to vote on Energy Taxation Directive

MEPs will today vote  on the proposal for revision of the 2003 Energy Taxation Directive (ETD) following a report by Astrid Lulling (EPP, Luxembourg) in Strasbourg last night. The revision marks the introduction of CO 2 in the taxation of energy products and electricity and the end of the special status given to diesel fuel and unleaded petrol.   The proposal, presented by the European Commission in 2011, constitutes the response to the EU summit’s 2008 request to align the European Union’s energy and climate change objectives. Under the revision, taxation would be based not only on energy content but also on the CO 2 content of energy products, and would include a minimum level for CO 2. Member states will therefore have to make a clear distinction between the two components: taxation of CO 2 and taxation of the energy source. The text also provides for abolishing the reductions granted for diesel fuel for professional use as well as the preferential price for unleaded petrol. More generally, it does away with the existing distinction between commercial and private use of energy products to produce heat and electricity. While maintaining a degree of flexibility, including the possibility for member states to levy more than one tax on energy consumption, [...]

..read more Updated 19 Apr, 2012

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