European Union News - Energy

The main conclusion of the Electricity Supply Outlook Report is that there is no reason to expect electricity disturbances this Summer under usual weather conditions.

The Commission has taken firm action today against 25 Member States who prevent European consumers benefiting from the advantages of a competitive and open Energy Market by not complying with EU legislation. All the member states, except Cyprus and Malta, will be receiving letters of formal notice for not complying with applicable gas and electricity regulations. The Commission has also sent letters of formal notice to Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Lithuania for maintaining a system of regulated prices in violation of the EU directives on electricity and gas.

The adoption of the Nuclear Safety Directive is a major step for achieving a common legal framework and a strong safety culture in Europe. The EU has thus become the first major regional nuclear actor to provide binding legal force to the main international nuclear safety standards, namely the Safety Fundamentals established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the obligations resulting from the Convention on Nuclear Safety . The Directive also reinforces the independence and resources of the national competent regulatory authorities.

In order to reinforce and upgrade cooperation with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Commission has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to cover issues such as reinforced cooperation through joint activities to consolidate and further develop ERA and implement and follow up the European Strategy for Particle Physics, as well as consultations and exchange of information on issues of mutual interest. The text has been published in the OJEU on June 24th.

The European Commission launched today the BUILD UP web portal on http://www.buildup.eu/ as a tool for sharing information on reducing energy use of buildings. Content will be regularly updated and enhanced by users themselves to cover a wide range of good practice in energy reduction and of information on legislation.

In a public deliberation, the Council took note of a progress report summarising the work done so far on the energy efficiency package, which contains the following three proposals: an energy labelling directive, a tyres labelling directive and an energy performance of buildings directive.

The European Commission has decided to impose a fine of 20 million euros on Electrabel, an electricity producer and retailer belonging to the Suez Group for acquiring control of Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR), another electricity producer, without having received prior approval under the EU Merger Regulation.

On June 5th 2009, the Official Journal of the European Union has published the set of legal texts  implementing the measures adopted by the European Parliament on April 2009. These measures aim at putting the European Union on the forefront of action on climate and energy issues, contributing to reduce EU emissions by 20% in 2020.

Reaching the 2020 renewable energy targets is expected to lead to around 2.8 million jobs in the renewable energy sector and generate a total value added of around 1.1% of GDP. This is the main conclusion of a European Commission's study on the impact of renewable energy policy on economic growth and employment in the European Union (Employ-RES) which is already available in the Internet. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: "This shows that benefits of renewables in terms of security of supply and fighting climate change can go hand in hand with economic benefits".

Jan Fischer, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico and EU Commissioner Vladimír Špidla participated in the fourth plenary session of the European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) in the Czech capital Prague. 250 high-ranking participants from all relevant stakeholders are discussing risks, opportunities and transparency issues of nuclear energy.

President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner and the Commissioner for Trade, Baroness Catherine Ashton, will represent the European Commission at the EU-Russia Summit, held in Khabarovsk, Russia between May 21st and 22nd 2009. The Summit is an opportunity for the EU and Russia to discuss how best to coordinate responses to the financial and economic crisis, as well as issues on climate change and energy security. Efforts to promote greater stability in the common neighbourhood and in Europe more generally will also be in the agenda.