State of the #EnergyUnion debate

“Accelerating the modernization of Europe’s entire economy, making it low carbon and efficient in energy and resources” are key aims of Energy Union legislation, said Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič in Wednesday’s (1 February) plenary debate.

Some MEPs welcomed the Clean Energy package, which forms about 80% of the Energy Union legislation, but others thought it insufficiently ambitious.

Others warned that efforts to achieve climate change objectives should not obscure the need to boost competitiveness, or argued that energy security is as important as clean energy. Several stressed the need to promote renewables.

Energy poverty, the effects of recent statements by US President Donald Trump about the Paris agreement, and the legality of the Nord Stream project were among other questions raised by the MEPs.

Background

The Energy Union project has five closely interwoven strands:

• Energy security, solidarity and trust;
• a fully integrated European energy market;
• energy efficiency contributing to moderation of demand;
• decarbonising the economy, and;
• research, innovation and competitiveness.