Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-07-08-Speech-2-325"
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"en.20080708.35.2-325"2
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"Mr President, it is the gas market that is at stake here today. When it comes to gas we have to distinguish between two markets. Firstly there is the fact that we have to bring gas to Europe. To do this we need a stable investment policy that also takes the gas supplier countries into consideration. For this we need long-term contracts and we must give European companies the opportunity to invest in pipelines in order to transport this gas to Europe. What we would need – and with a bit more effort from everyone, and particularly from the national governments – is a unified European policy on gas that allows the EU’s 27 voices to take the same line at international level. That is probably a better definition of what we need.
If Nord Stream is built we shall have gas at the crossing point in Greifswald and indeed everywhere else in Europe. Then we have the LNG market, which means the European gas market. The question that then arises is whether we are to draw up policies for the consumer or for the companies involved in this European gas market.
What does a company need in order to establish a cartel? The first thing is control over the pipelines so that competitors cannot gain access to their home market. The second is control over the gas storage facilities, so that while being readily able to cushion the supply a company does not then have difficulties when it comes to delivery. Thirdly there is market dominance: E.ON currently controls 60-70% of the German market while Gaz de France has a 70-80% share of the French market and there are no mechanisms in place to do anything about this. Fourthly, we have a weak European regulatory system, which means multinational concerns and national regulatory authorities that always end up coming second best. Then, fifthly, there is lack of transparency.
What are Mr Reul and others proposing? Just these very things! In other words we are devising policies for the companies instead of for the consumers. This is why we in the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance favour two basic approaches. We need to bring gas to Europe, but once this gas is inside the European single market there has to be competition: separation of the networks, better access to the storage facilities and a gas release programme.
My dear conservatives and liberals, you cannot any longer allow a situation in which we have 70%, 80% or 90% dominance on the national markets and the only weapon against this is gas release. We have tabled an amendment to re-introduce the gas release programme and we need it. Regarding point four, we of course require a European regulatory authority. This means that for the FDP and the CDU/CSU Members, as well as for the liberals and conservatives, tomorrow is the day of reckoning: either we make policy for the consumers or we make policy for the companies."@en1
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