Focus Around the world
This article is over 3 years old
Towards a European Energy Union
The top three priorities to create a European Energy Union are: sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness. Will Europe regain its leadership in terms of political, economic and decisional power?
In the 2014 EU Strategic Agenda, a sort of frame to the progress in European policies which have been made so far and a sort of starting point for a debate on further political measures necessary for the growth of the Union, the word that recurs the most in all its many facets is "Union", that is, union of labor, citizens and energy.
If syntax serves well, the Union of European member States will be the future key-word for the Old Continent, the added value that will make a difference in the life of people and in businesses.
A Union of intents, policies and practices, but also an "Energy Union", achievable by pursuing three priority and interdependent objectives:
• Environmental protection;
• Security of energy supply;
• Competitiveness.
On one hand, the EU currently has one of the strictest policies in the world in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability, however, it seems like it has fallen behind in terms of investments, political and economic weight and global decisional power.
To support competitiveness on a global scale, especially towards emerging countries, the European Union must therefore renew its efforts towards a truly interconnected and integrated energy market, reducing energy dependence, especially on Russian gas, and thus securing energy supplies, as reaffirmed by IEA in its last report.
Since 2008, the gas market in Western Europe has benefited from a greater liquidity than the rest of Europe, thanks to higher availability, imports and storage capacity of the material.
In the field of electricity, the regional price coupling has integrated just a part of the market, concentrated between Nordic and Baltic countries, Central Europe, North-East and South-West Europe.
However, the European Union seems to be still very far from creating a fully integrated energy&electricity network.
Both gas and electricity markets in Europe, in fact, suffer from reduced cross-border capacity and some congestion problems still persist at the borders. In addition to this, many parts of Eastern and Southern Europe are still isolated.
The EU is addressing these challenges by harmonizing the network rules and speeding up investments in energy infrastructural projects, the so-called "projects of common interest".
Furthermore, the 2014 Strategic Agenda sets a series of urgent targets for the achievement of a true European Energy Union, such as:
• Accelerate the diversification of energy supply, including renewables and other local energy sources;
• Study of strategies to develop the European collective bargaining power;
• Develop infrastructure and interconnections;
• Moderate energy demand while increasing energy efficiency;
• Ensure consistency between greenhouse gas emissions reduction, energy efficiency and use of renewables, in view of the European Energy&Climate goals for 2030.
If syntax serves well, the Union of European member States will be the future key-word for the Old Continent, the added value that will make a difference in the life of people and in businesses.
A Union of intents, policies and practices, but also an "Energy Union", achievable by pursuing three priority and interdependent objectives:
• Environmental protection;
• Security of energy supply;
• Competitiveness.
On one hand, the EU currently has one of the strictest policies in the world in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability, however, it seems like it has fallen behind in terms of investments, political and economic weight and global decisional power.
To support competitiveness on a global scale, especially towards emerging countries, the European Union must therefore renew its efforts towards a truly interconnected and integrated energy market, reducing energy dependence, especially on Russian gas, and thus securing energy supplies, as reaffirmed by IEA in its last report.
Since 2008, the gas market in Western Europe has benefited from a greater liquidity than the rest of Europe, thanks to higher availability, imports and storage capacity of the material.
In the field of electricity, the regional price coupling has integrated just a part of the market, concentrated between Nordic and Baltic countries, Central Europe, North-East and South-West Europe.
However, the European Union seems to be still very far from creating a fully integrated energy&electricity network.
Both gas and electricity markets in Europe, in fact, suffer from reduced cross-border capacity and some congestion problems still persist at the borders. In addition to this, many parts of Eastern and Southern Europe are still isolated.
The EU is addressing these challenges by harmonizing the network rules and speeding up investments in energy infrastructural projects, the so-called "projects of common interest".
Furthermore, the 2014 Strategic Agenda sets a series of urgent targets for the achievement of a true European Energy Union, such as:
• Accelerate the diversification of energy supply, including renewables and other local energy sources;
• Study of strategies to develop the European collective bargaining power;
• Develop infrastructure and interconnections;
• Moderate energy demand while increasing energy efficiency;
• Ensure consistency between greenhouse gas emissions reduction, energy efficiency and use of renewables, in view of the European Energy&Climate goals for 2030.
