The European Parliament adopted by 406 votes to 168, with 187 abstentions, a resolution calling on Member States to regard the second strategic energy review as a basis for implementing an energy policy for Europe and setting an ambitious action plan for 2010‑2012.
MEPs stress that any European energy policy must pursue three principal and equally important objectives in an integral manner, namely security of supply and solidarity among Member States, tackling climate change including a strong commitment to and implementation of the Union's own targets, and competitiveness. In this context, MEPs call on the EU and the Member States to become the most energy-efficient economy in order to actively contribute to the achievement of the 2°C climate objective and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050.
The European Parliament strongly believes that reducing energy consumption is the absolute priority with a view to achieving sustainable development, innovation, job creation and competitiveness objectives. It calls on the Commission and the Member States to make the 20% energy saving target by 2020 legally binding on Member States and to propose and implement consistent measures to secure its achievement. Moreover, it calls on the EU and the Member States to adopt as objectives a 35% improvement in energy efficiency and a 60% share of renewable energy by 2050. The Commission is also called upon to support all planned investments in new import energy infrastructure and renewable energy technologies.
European energy policy: in the light of the growing risks which the European Union is running in terms of energy security, the European Parliament calls on the Member States to speak with a single voice and on the Commission to draw up a European energy policy which has due regard for the respective competences of the European Union and of the Member States. According to MEPs, an appropriate European energy policy must be founded on a balanced energy mix based on the use of non-carbon energy and the lowest emitting fossil fuels and on new technologies which drastically reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from solid fossil fuels. MEPs welcome the European Union energy security and solidarity action plan and believe that Member States should develop national strategies to tackle the issue of energy poverty within their territory.
Promoting the infrastructure required to meet EU needs: the resolution notes a very significant delay in the building of the priority and European-interest transport and energy networks and therefore calls on national regulatory authorities to do whatever they can within their fields of decision-making to accelerate investment.
The Parliament expresses its support for projects to diversify sources and routes of supply, particularly the development of a southern gas corridor including the Nabucco, the Turkey-Greece-Italy Gas Interconnector (TGI), and South Stream projects. It stresses the need to work with the countries concerned, notably in the Caspian region and considers it of great importance that in the longer term, when political conditions permit, supplies from other countries in the region, such as Uzbekistan and Iran, should represent a further significant source of supply for the European Union. The resolution also stresses the importance of the development of gas and electricity interconnections through Central and South-Eastern Europe along a north-south axis, recalling that the networks in the Baltic sea region should be developed and integrated into the Western European network.
MEPs consider that relations and partnerships with key energy suppliers, transit countries and consumer countries are important and must be deepened. They call for a trilateral agreement between the EU, Russia and Ukraine concerning the transit of gas from Russia to the EU to guarantee security of supply in the coming years. Moreover, they consider that sufficient liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity consisting of liquefaction facilities in the producing countries and LNG terminals and ship-based regasification in the Union should be available to all Member States, either directly or through other Member States on the basis of a solidarity mechanism.
Internal energy market: the Parliament calls on the Commission and the Member States to draw up strategic guidelines intended for lasting application, while encouraging private industrial undertakings to participate in their implementation, striking a balance between market mechanisms and regulation. It stresses the importance of creating a clear and stable legal framework by finalising before the end of the Parliament's legislature in 2009 the negotiations on the legislative package on the internal energy market.
The resolution calls on the Member States to cooperate to draw up a European strategic plan with a view to multiannual programming of the investment necessary to meet future electricity generation needs and believes that an indicative multiannual plan should also be envisaged in the gas sector to provide an overall view of investment requirements at European level.
External energy relations: the Parliament calls on the Commission to support the inclusion of the so-called "energy security clause" in trade, association and partnership as well as cooperation agreements with producer and transit countries, which would lay down a code of conduct and prohibition of disruption due to commercial disputes, and explicitly outline measures to be taken in the event of unilateral disruption, or any change in the terms of the contract or in the terms of supply by one of the partners.
The resolution calls on the EU to cooperate with the countries of the Mediterranean region (including North Africa) and with the countries of the Middle East in view of their significant energy resource potential. It also supports the intention to negotiate a wide-ranging new agreement replacing the 1997 Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Russia, including the Chapter on Energy, which should fully respect the principles of the Energy Charter Treaty and its transit protocols. In this context, MEPs stress the need to include Ukraine in the European arrangements for ongoing dialogue with Russia on account of the key role which Ukraine plays as a transit country.
Moreover, the Commission is called upon to consider extending the Energy Community Treaty between the European Union and South-Eastern Europe to other third countries and to create new regional energy markets with neighbouring countries on the model of the South East Europe Energy Community, including for example, the Euro-Mediterranean Energy Community.
Ways of responding to crises: in the light of the recent gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia that afflicted the Union's territory, the resolution calls on the European Commission to propose, by the end of 2009, a revision of Council Directive 2004/67/EC concerning measures to safeguard security of natural gas supply. According to MEPs, this revision should contain mandatory and effective national and EU emergency action plans, which, among other things, define:
Indigenous resources and nuclear energy: MEPs believe that renewable energies, such as wind, biogas, solar, hydro, biomass, geothermal and marine resources, are the most important potential sources of energy available to the European Union, which can help to stabilise energy prices and combat increasing energy dependence. Exploiting indigenous fossil resources, particularly onshore and off-shore natural gas fields, may contribute to enhancing Europe's energy independence and must be developed where available.
The Parliament endorses the Commission's analysis that it is important to maintain the contribution of nuclear energy in the energy mix, and to that end to promote without delay the establishment of a harmonised regulatory and economic framework facilitating the necessary investment decisions. The Commission is therefore called upon to draw up a specific road map for nuclear investments.
MEPs consider it essential to reassure the Union's citizens that nuclear energy is used safely and transparently, and at the highest technologically possible level of safety, particularly as regards the management of nuclear waste. In this context, they stress the need for the adoption by neighbouring countries of the acquis communautaire in nuclear safety every time a new nuclear plant is planned or an old plant is upgraded in these countries. They also call on the Commission and the Council to develop models and procedures jointly with the IAEA to prevent the peaceful use of nuclear energy leading to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.