Energy Post takes stock of what the proposals for an Energy Union mean and ponders the key question: can Brussels deliver? The Commission is pushing hard on a far-reaching redesign of the electricity market, which is to be driven by the EU Emission Trading Scheme and increasingly run by EU institutions. In gas Brussels also wants to take a central role. When it comes to climate policy, the Commission has some substantial new proposals on energy … [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: âTo get an Energy Union, you need new institutionsâ
The âEnergy Unionâ 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 â 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 Commissionâs official presentation on 25 February. … [Read more...]
Georg Zachmann, Bruegel Institute: âThe EU must go for an Energy Union â or renationalise energy marketsâ
âWe 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.â Thatâs 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...]
The Energy Union: âa holistic approach to the energy transitionâ
The EUâs great new project of an âEnergy Unionâ will represent âfor the first time a holistic approach to how we need to achieve the energy transition,â said the man in charge, Commissioner MaroĆĄ Ć efÄoviÄ, 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...]
A “JâAccuse” from an ex-EU official: only a real Energy Union can save the EU energy market
An âEnergy Unionâ 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...]
Bulgaria â the EUâs next gasless gas hub (Or: is Bulgaria trying to become the new Ukraine?)
In response to the cancellation of South Stream, the Bulgarian government has launched a programme to turn Bulgaria into a âgas hubâ for the region â an initiative welcomed by the European Commission and the United States. Â Anca Elena Mihalache, Senior Analyst at the Romanian think tank Energy Policy Group, notes that Bulgaria has few sources of gas other than Russia and does not have a good record in creating liberalized energy markets. … [Read more...]
Europe does not need the Southern Gas Corridor
The Southern Gas Corridor, the EUâs major energy diversification project, is not only unnecessary in light of gas demand projections, but also falls short on the goal of bringing energy independence from Russia. It involves large subsidies to Russian company Lukoil and it strengthens another authoritarian regime, that of Azerbaijan. Those are the main conclusions of a new study, âPipe Dreamsâ, written by a group of NGO's: CEE Bankwatch Network, … [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...]
South Stream Is Dead. Long Live South Stream
South Stream is not dead â rather it has morphed into a new project which is part of a complex commercial power play on the part of Russia and Turkey, writes Anca Elena Mihalache, Senior Analyst with the Romanian think tank Energy Policy Group. According to Mihalache, the new South Stream, if it happens, will offer new opportunities to Europe, but also new threats. In particular, the EU will see its diversification strategy come under pressure … [Read more...]
Energy security: Brussels, stop dreaming about the market and confront Russia and China geopolitically
European leaders are under the delusion that they can solve Europeâs security of energy supply problem by creating a strong internal market, which they believe the rest of the world will be eager to serve. In reality, reducing dependence on Russia will require long-term political commitment, real power play and engagement with countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), write Cyril Widdershoven of energy research institute TNO and … [Read more...]
Putin’s gas gambit: what’s next after South Stream
The Russian cancellation of South Stream is not an end, but a beginning: a new start of Russian gas games in Europe and beyond, writes Agata Ćoskot-Strachota of the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Poland. She discusses three likely scenarios for what will happen after South Stream and notes that this is a chance for Russia and Europe to look afresh at their bilateral gas relations and new pipeline options. But, she adds, it also makes it … [Read more...]
Cancellation of South Stream is not retaliation, but a business decision
The decision to stop the South Stream project does not represent a fundamental shift in Russian energy policy, writes Friedbert PflĂŒger, Director of the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security (EUCERS) at Kingâs College London. It is not a political retaliation or a âcounter-sanctionâ, but above all a business decision: South Stream had become far too expensive in the current stagnant European gas market. … [Read more...]
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