Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-28-Speech-3-235"
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"en.20050928.23.3-235"2
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".
Mr President, I welcome the emphasis that has been given this afternoon to the demand aspects of the oil problem. It would be easier for us to focus on the supply side and the difficulties caused by Hurricane Katrina, but if we did that we would just be applying a sticking plaster, when what we really need is major surgery.
At the bottom of the problem is Europe's over-dependence on oil. With a third of EU oil being imported from Russia and a quarter from the Middle East – and those proportions are rising – we face a structural problem which goes far beyond any short-term crisis. The simple fact is that we have to cut oil consumption: really cut it, not just talk about cutting it, and we have talked about it a great deal in the context of curbing CO2 emissions. But there is still a huge gap between the grand rhetoric about using less oil and the amount of real practical action taking place on the ground.
I have two specific requests for the Council and Commission today. It is welcome news indeed that the UK Presidency is committed to getting an agreement before the end of December on the energy efficiency and energy services directive, but will the Minister assure us today that this will be a directive with big teeth; one which makes serious, binding commitments on energy reduction; one which sets a framework for energy efficiency and stimulates a rapid growth in energy efficiency services across Europe? That is the sort of commitment we need if we are going to tackle the demand side of oil dependency, rather than just talk about it.
Secondly to the Commission: will the Commission commit to engaging in joined-up thinking on the issues of alternatives to oil? I welcome the forthcoming strategies which Mr Piebalgs mentioned. I hope that these will be coming not just from the Energy Commissioner, who we know is deeply committed to promoting energy saving and renewables. I hope that there will be wide and integrated Commission strategies to stimulate European action across the board, bringing together policy initiatives on transport, industry, taxation and agriculture. In many cases we have the technology, we even have a successful pilot project somewhere in the EU, but what we do not have is the means to roll out the technology and make it mainstream.
In my own region we have the beginnings of a successful bio-diesel industry in the Tees Valley. Very high-yield oil seed rape grows right next to an existing petrochemical industry. We already have the start of a 'green route' of filling stations supplying 5% biodiesel, but there is not yet the infrastructure, the capacity, or the tax regime to roll out that biodiesel programme everywhere. Biodiesel is just one case where the talking has to stop. I am afraid oil demand will not go down unless there is more concrete structural action on both renewables and energy efficiency."@en1
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