Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-06-06-Speech-1-090"
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"en.20050606.13.1-090"2
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".
Mr President, first of all I would like to thank Mrs Rothe again for her very important work in Parliament. I would also like to thank Mrs Wortmann-Kool and Mrs Korhola for their contribution to this well-prepared report.
I will start where I see more support in the European Parliament. In some cases doubts have been expressed about the need for energy efficiency, at least in the form proposed. It is an important, timely and necessary proposal, although perhaps a bit late in the day.
First of all, concerning the security of energy supplies, there are limited possibilities for the supply side. We should address the demand side: this is where we should focus our attention.
The second issue which is extremely popular with Member States, at least theoretically, is the climate change issue. But the achievement of climate change goals is impossible without firmly addressing energy efficiency issues. We can indicate that if the target of 1% per year of energy efficiency were achieved, we could save around 50% of the European Union’s Kyoto goals. This is an extremely important issue. Without addressing energy efficiency firmly we cannot achieve these goals. Sometimes it is perceived that energy efficiency is against the Lisbon goals or against our competitiveness. Quite the opposite. It is the only way to go forward because climate change is a global issue and if we get competitive development in this field, we will definitely be competitive leaders in the world. So it provides more opportunities than the cost involved.
Regarding mandatory targets, I very much welcome Parliament’s approach. I think a mandatory target is a must. First of all, we do not have very good experience with indicative targets; but secondly, in the energy efficiency area as it relates to all areas, mandatory targets are providing a sustainable policy. I salute the proposal of the Parliament to be more flexible about the scope and level of the target. I would say the Parliament is more demanding than the Commission. I congratulate Parliament on that, but we think that our figures are perhaps more modest, but at the same time generally well defendable in the Council. So, there is no difficulty with a three times three years proposal. I think it gives some necessary flexibility, but at the same time 3, 4 or 5% with a bottom-up approach means a lot. It is a really demanding target and we shall have to see whether it is achievable.
Concerning the issue of one target or individual targets, I am in favour of the general approach of one target. Some of the speakers mentioned that we have a different situation, one country has done more, another less. If we compare, for example, new and old Member countries, the energy consumption per capita in the new Member countries is lower. There are huge possibilities, but it also shows that there is an opportunity for older Member States, so all Member States have the potential to achieve these targets. I think this is a less bureaucratic approach and is a policy throughout the Union, and the Member States that have invested in energy efficiency are gaining more and have more possibilities to achieve something in the energy efficiency field.
There has been less debate on energy services, but I think that this part of the directive is also very important. If you personally look and see what has happened with energy services during your lifetime, you will see that not much has happened. So this directive is giving a necessary boost for the construction of energy services, because the market by itself has not provided this development. There have been some very good proposals from the Parliament, some of which could be acceptable.
There are some very important issues relating to best practices. Each Member State can find something it has done in the energy efficiency area that could be used in other Member States. So it is very important at a European level, but also at Member State, regional and local levels because energy efficiency is an aspect of each of the operations or uses of energy using the equipment that we have. It means that we should involve the whole society in this process. At this stage it must be done in a very intelligent way, but not necessarily always through restrictions.
I would like to thank the Parliament once again for its strong support for this very important directive and I hope that we will convince the Council about the mandatory targets. That is now the big challenge."@en1
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