Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-18-Speech-3-142"
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, energy cooperation with developing countries is clearly not a straightforward matter, but it is an issue that is crucial to everyone.
Only if and when our cooperation partners define developing their energy sector and make this a priority will the money begin to flow. What we can do and what we will do is talk to the developing countries, with whom we are already working, to ensure that this happens. In this context of cooperation I can give the commitment that – together with my colleague, Commissioner Nielson – we shall do everything possible to ensure that the expectations we all share are not disappointed.
Mr Wijkman is quite right to propose that we must at least ensure that unused funds are channelled into useful energy projects instead of remaining unused. I fully share these positions. I also wish to say that the energy chapter is indeed still one of the least-present elements in cooperation and assistance for poverty eradication and for the development of the poorest countries. Nevertheless, I believe it is absolutely crucial – and I say this once again – that we are able to give it a boost.
Energy has a role in education. Energy is involved in access to some of the new technologies that we must help to disseminate in those countries, precisely in order to prevent a worsening of today’s poverty, which can be expressed simply as the difference in wealth between the developed and developing countries. There is a new divide in relation to the new technologies, which we in the developed countries have and enjoy and to which the developing countries, unfortunately, still do not have access.
Here again, energy has a role to play and hence the importance of having presented this first Communication. This is the first, but not the last. I can inform you, ladies and gentlemen, that a new one is being prepared. The only difference is that, when the time comes, we will be able to present it with the backing of the conclusions obtained in Johannesburg and of the awareness-raising that has been carried out since then.
Thank you very much Mr President, and thank you very much Mr Wijkman for your work.
Unless the energy dimension, and those of development and the environment are addressed appropriately at the same time we will really make very little progress. Furthermore, however, I wish to say that unless we address the issue of energy in developing countries, not only will those countries fail to develop properly; we will also be unable to confront problems such as combating climate change in a responsible and effective way.
For this reason I wish to express my thanks to Mr Wijkman, who is rapporteur for the report we are discussing today. Mr Wijkman’s combination of knowledge and persistence has resulted in a document that provides a useful contribution and boost to the work we still have to do to implement the Johannesburg conclusions in particular, on which we are working in the Commission and specifically in the Directorate-General for Energy.
I have chosen to interpret the report as support for the proposal made in the Commission Communication and I have no problem with the amendments Mr Wijkman tabled last week.
When the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport began preparing a document such as this, energy was not on the Johannesburg agenda. We started working on energy and development cooperation before energy appeared on the Johannesburg agenda. Energy then became the hot issue, or one of the hot issues, on the Johannesburg agenda, but we in the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport had already been working on it and I must say that I personally pushed for this approach.
It must be made very clear: energy and water constitute life itself. Without water and energy, not only can there be no development, even survival is impossible.
Having said that, I wish to make a few observations on the substance of the report, which I believe might be constructive and could smooth the way for future cooperation.
Some of the specific proposals that have been made will need more detailed examination to ensure that coherence is maintained with the overall aim of development cooperation, in other words, eradicating poverty, combined with boosting a form of energy development that is balanced and sustainable.
The resolution correctly notes that the Commission has been very modest in suggesting special and reserved funding for energy investment in developing countries. We are not overlooking the importance of funding; we are convinced, however, that funding must be based on demand. This is a key aspect of the European Union’s energy policy for eradicating poverty and for achieving sustainable development."@en1
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