An EU strategy for sustainible, secure and competitive energy
ANYONE paying a gas or electricity bill will know that global energy prices are on the rise. This is coupled with heightened concerns over the security of our energy supplies - it is estimated that by 2030, Europe could be 70% dependent on foreign energy imports - and choices over how best to generate energy while tackling global climate change and reducing emissions.
As a member of the European Parliament's energy committee, I was appointed to write the Parliament's response to the European Commission's proposals for meeting these challenges - the energy green paper.
The proposals set out in the paper include completing the opening of European electricity and gas markets and improving relations with important energy suppliers such as Russia and the OPEC countries. The paper also put forward suggestions on how to secure supplies though looking at diverse sources of energy and how to tackle climate change by boosting renewable energies and low carbon technologies.
My report was published in the autumn of 2006 and adopted by the European Parliament after a vote in Strabsourg in December. You can read it here.
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