Energy security through new fossil fuel supplies and transport infrastructure, not energy efficiency and renewables, dominates the conclusions issued by EU heads of state and government after their first debate on an Energy Union for Europe in Brussels on Thursday. Former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk – now President of the European Council of Ministers – appears to have reclaimed in large part the Energy Union he helped set in motion, … [Read more...]
Europe’s Energy Union: a big deal – but is it a good deal?
The Energy Union, writes Jonathan Gaventa, Associate Director of E3G, offers Europe a unique opportunity to move to a more modern, efficient and technologically advanced energy system, to bring down Europe’s outrageously high energy import bill and to lead global clean energy markets. Unless we allow it to be hijacked by incumbent utilities and oil and gas players who will use it to advance their own interests. … [Read more...]
viEUws VIDEO: “Conflict between Russia and EU could mark end of European gas industry”
Tatiana Mitrova, Head of the Oil & Gas Department at the Energy Research Institute in Moscow, joins Hughes Belin on viEUws.eu to analyse the consequences of the troubled EU-Russia relations for energy trade. According to Mitrova, the current situation is a "perfect storm" which she warns "could mark the beginning of the end of the European gas industry." … [Read more...]
EU energy policy: still ambiguous after all these years
The Energy Union package recently announced by the European Commission is a step forward in that it puts market liberalization and integration at the centre of European energy policy, writes Carlo Stagnaro, senior fellow at the Italian free market think tank Istituto Bruno Leoni. At the same time, it is still strongly influenced by the idea that government intervention is required to ensure both security of supply and sustainability. As a result, … [Read more...]
Italian market coupling launched, Europe closer to one copper plate
A further significant step towards an integrated European power market was taken recently as the Italian Borders Market Coupling was successfully launched. The Italian-Austrian, Italian-French and Italian-Slovenian borders have now been coupled with the Multi-Regional Coupling (MRC) instrument. Thanks to this coupling, 19 EU power markets - from Finland to Portugal and Slovenia – are now integrated into a single market platform. … [Read more...]
Highlights from the Energy Union package – and responses
The European Commission announced its plans for a far-reaching Energy Union for Europe on 25 February, with a work package full of legislative and non-legislative actions for the next two years. Brussels also presented a strategy for the UN climate talks in Paris in December and a paper on how to meet electricity interconnection targets inside the EU. We present the highlights plus some responses. For a detailed analysis, see the accompanying … [Read more...]
Interview Jean-Michel Glachant: “To get an Energy Union, you need new institutions”
The “Energy Union” for Europe is a dream that the European Commission will find hard to realise with its existing powers limited to the internal market and competition law, says Jean-Michel Glachant, Robert Schuman Chair, Director of the Florence School of Regulation and Director of the Loyola de Palacio Energy Policy Programme at the European University Institute. In an interview with Energy Post, he applauds the ambition behind this creative … [Read more...]
viEUws VIDEO: Energy Union – A serious test for European integration
Journalist Hughes Belin investigates the prospects of the Energy Union strategy and its governance structure, for viEUws.eu, ahead of the European Commission’s official presentation on 25 February. … [Read more...]
Georg Zachmann, Bruegel Institute: “The EU must go for an Energy Union – or renationalise energy markets”
“We can either go for a European market or a renationalisation of energy policy. Trying to incentivise investment with volatile national schemes and have a European market at the same time is the worst option.” That’s the opinion of influential German energy expert Georg Zachmann, Research Fellow at the Brussels-based think tank the Bruegel Institute. In an interview with Energy Post, Zachmann, who has published widely about EU energy policy, … [Read more...]
The Energy Union: it’s now or never for a European energy policy
Rarely has an idea conquered the policymaking conversation in the EU as rapidly as that of the Energy Union. In less than a year it has become the big package in which all EU climate and energy policies are to be wrapped up. Where did the idea come from? How will it change EU energy policy? Editor Karel Beckman spoke to experts from Poland, Luxembourg, France, Italy and the UK to find out. They agree it's now or never for a true European energy … [Read more...]
viEUws VIDEO: Brussels Briefing on Energy – special on Energy Union
In this Brussels Briefing on Energy for viEUws.eu, Hughes Belin provides an overview of progress made on the EU’s Energy Union project, ahead of the formal launch of the Energy Union by the European Commission on 25 February. … [Read more...]
The Energy Union: “a holistic approach to the energy transition”
The EU’s great new project of an “Energy Union” will represent “for the first time a holistic approach to how we need to achieve the energy transition,” said the man in charge, Commissioner Maroš Ĺ efÄŤoviÄŤ, at a press conference in Brussels last week. His colleague, Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete, at a grand Energy Union in Riga on Friday, revealed a long list of actions to be subsumed under the Energy Union concept, but with … [Read more...]
Six steps to prepare the European energy system for the future
The European energy system is feeling increasing strain from the effects of the energy transition. New regulatory and business models are urgently needed, in particular to cope with the increasing share of variable energy sources. Pieter Boot of the Netherlands Environment Assessment Agency (PBL) and Jacques de Jong of the Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP) offer six practical suggestions to prepare our energy system for a … [Read more...]
A “J’Accuse” from an ex-EU official: only a real Energy Union can save the EU energy market
An “Energy Union” in Europe means that an EU-level organisation will balance the flows of electricity, not national transmission system operators. And it means the EU will ensure security of supply - not the national member states. That is the vision of Jean-Arnold Vinois, until recently Director in charge of the internal energy market at the European Commission and co-author of a groundbreaking report from Notre Europe (Jacques Delors Institute) … [Read more...]
viEUws VIDEO: Top 5 energy issues for the Latvian EU Presidency
In this special briefing for viEUws.eu, energy journalist Hughes Belin picks out the top 5 energy issues that will be discussed by the European institutions under the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. … [Read more...]
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