Commissioner Piebalgs draws a very dark picture

During the EU Energy Law and Policy Conference held yesterday in Brussels, Commissioner Piebalgs made an intervention regarding the recent Energy Package launched by the European Commission.

The Commissioner expressed his concerns regarding the European Energy Policy, saying that without a comprehensive vision and a coherent framework, the EU will end up using more energy, importing more energy, emitting more CO₂ and running the risk of having fragmented national electricity and gas markets dominated by a single or handful of incumbents.

The Commissioner himself recognised that the EU does not have a common energy policy fit to deal with these challenges. He referred that the present direction of Europe’s energy policy will fail to contribute to Europe’s competitiveness, and the Internal Electricity and Gas Market is one of the vital elements and its not yet performing as it needs to.

An improvement in the effectiveness of energy regulation is a priority. Insufficient progresses have been made in a number of areas like unbundling, pricing mechanisms, harmonisation of technical standards that are necessary for cross-border trade among others. The European regulators need to have their powers reinforced in order to structure binding decisions on technical issues and mechanisms related to cross border issues.

He stressed that there is a need for a “new industrial revolution” and that the EU should take global leadership on pursuing it.