Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-29-Speech-3-204"
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"en.20000329.12.3-204"2
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"Mr President, I believe that all of us are in agreement that the development of renewable energy sources is the way forward. If we are serious about this, we must be prepared to make funds available for research and development in this area, both at national and European levels.
Parliament recently voted to maintain and increase funding for the SAVE programme. In my own country of Ireland a total of EUR 125 million has been devoted to developing an environmentally sustainable energy sector. I am pleased that the rapporteur identifies the links between the issue of renewable energy sources and wider policy considerations.
The creation of an internal market in electricity should provide consumers of electricity with real choice. The introduction of an element of competition in any industry should lead to more favourable pricing for the consumer.
While it is desirable to create a level playing field it may also be necessary to provide subsidies for certain types of energy in order to promote other objectives. Clearly the development of renewables is linked to environmental objectives as well as issues of employment, regional development and the promotion of local initiatives. I would like to see the development of small local initiatives which would strengthen rural development by the provision of, say, 20 to 30 jobs per project. Such projects should not only be open to the business sector and local groups such as small locally-based co-ops should be assisted in creating such local enterprises.
This report states that support for renewable energy projects must not be viewed as a straightforward subsidy under the state aid rules. What is important is that Member States be allowed to continue subsidising renewable energy sources which are not yet economically viable. Apart from the obvious environmental and other benefits, this can actually be justified on competition grounds. It is clear that there are serious distortions in the energy market with many hidden subsidies to both coal and oil generated energy. It would be virtually impossible to quantify these subsidies which have been embedded in the industry over decades of generator construction.
We still face a significant challenge in meeting our commitments on limiting greenhouse gas emissions from the energy sector under the Kyoto protocol while, at the same time, promoting growth within our economies. I believe that, while each Member State must work towards the 12% target of renewables, the imposition of a single binding target would not be helpful because of the great differences in the structure of the energy market between Member States.
All I have said so far is on the positive side but, on the negative side, the report specifically calls for peat to be excluded. Peat power plants work very well indeed in my country and make an important contribution to Ireland’s energy supply. In addition to that, the report emphatically calls for the European imposition of an energy tax. I am totally opposed to this approach and I reject this taxation. Therefore, I regret to say that my final vote on this project will be seriously affected."@en1
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