Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-18-Speech-3-144"
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"en.20030618.10.3-144"2
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"Mr President, I, too, would like to congratulate Mr Wijkman and thank him for being so open to dialogue and willing to listen to the amendments put forward in the Committee on Development and Cooperation.
The Johannesburg Summit rightly affirmed that access to energy for the poor has become a priority, since it is so very true that the populations’ vital needs in this respect are far from being satisfied and the trend is still away from equality; the main reason for this is the developed countries’ fossil fuel consumption, in particular US consumption, which is excessive and very much out of proportion to that of the developing countries. Life expectancy and development are closely linked to access to energy, to the point that many see it as a real basic human right. That right must be recognised, guaranteed and protected. How can we contribute to the existence and development of an efficient energy sector in the developing countries without policies that encourage close cooperation for the exchange of know-how, the primary objective being to meet the vital needs of the populations? The need for finance is evident. The creation of a Sustainable Energy Fund and much more consistent participation by the European Union could be a first response. In particular, as the report rightly says, the existence of a strong public sector in the energy sector is particularly important in the first phase of development.
More than that, as the majority of the Committee on Development and Cooperation has said, I remain convinced that the Commission’s options for privatisation of the energy sector are more than dangerous. The Commission’s role is not to promote privatisation in the developing countries. The exploitation and distribution of primary energy, which is essential for development, must be handled by public or private companies committed to public service and general interest goals. Such public control is all the more vital because the trans-national corporations that operate in the developing countries are all too often concerned only with short-term profitability, to the detriment of the needs of the local populations and at the risk of plundering their energy resources. Effective machinery must be deployed to monitor the activities of European undertakings in particular.
I also support the call on the Commission to review deregulation of the energy sector from a human development perspective and to work towards international trade norms which abide by human rights and peoples' rights.
Finally, seeing that next September’s WTO Summit in Cancun is not far away, we must refuse to allow the energy sector to be included in the general agreement on trade in services, which would make energy a commodity like any other. The aim of universal access to energy in the service of development will not be achieved by following a model imposed by the liberal thinking of multilateral bodies like the WTO, but by expanding and guaranteeing the public service to meet the needs of the populations."@en1
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