Co-founding Preferable Strategy for Energy Efficiency, Says Oettinger
Europe needs to promote energy efficiency through a mix of co-founding from authorities and efforts from the private sector, European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger said on Wednesday.
“We want to be ambitious, we want to help you with co-founding,” Oettinger said during the European Energy Service Award (EESA) 2014, speaking with private companies.
Oettinger, who was under fire for the delays in brokering an interim gas deal between Ukraine and Russia, did not refer to the negotiations, preferring to restate the need for European countries to converge on a single energy strategy.
“We need an harmonised approach in Europe to modernise the Continent,” Oettinger stated, adding that the best strategy to cope with the current difficulties is to promote energy efficiency through additional taxes.
According to Oettinger, European authorities tried to introduce a financial support through a new round of taxes and subsidies, but the measure has then been scrapped due to a lack of far-sighted approach to energy.
On this point, many European leaders would have had a different opinion.
NEED FOR INNOVATION
During the conference in Brussels, the European Commissioner mentioned German engineers and industry as an example of excellence, saying that Germany has set the tone for other countries.
“There is a lot of creative energy,” Oettinger noted, opening the Award Ceremony for the Best Energy Service Project, for the best Provider and the best Promoter.
But he also asked European countries to step up efforts, reminding that the coming weeks will define the future of the European energy policies.
“We expect country members to do a little bit more,” Oettinger added in his speech in the Representation of the Land of Hessen to the European Union.
In this sense, Oettinger clearly stated that Europe should subsidise energy efficiency and promote a rationalisation of resources through innovation. According to the European Commissioner for Energy, growth has to be decoupled from energy consumption.
“Europe is the continent with the highest need to import energy,” Oettinger said, adding that the European energy needs have to translate into innovation and additional efforts to promote energy efficiency.
EUROPEAN PROBLEMS - SUBSIDIES
The first set of problems is related to subsidies. In the last days, several countries voiced concerned about Brussels’ attempt to impose more taxes and reduce countries’ space for manoeuvre.
During the recent conference in Milan on employment, several heads of state came up with the same conclusion: employment is more important than subsidies.
"Millions of people across Europe are jobless, which is a social as well as economic security problem. But benefits and subsidies cannot replace reforms. We will help people only by taking resolute action. Lithuania during difficult times focused on painful, yet necessary reforms. Our economy is showing continuous growth, next year we will join the eurozone, and youth unemployment in our country is declining most rapidly compared to other EU member states," Lithuania’s President Dalia Grybauskaitė recently said.
EUROPEAN PROBLEMS II - EU CARBON MARKET FIX
European businesses did not yet find a common position on the Emissions Trading System (ETS) either. Negotiations just started, but Germany’s position is more extreme and all-encompassing than the one unveiled by other countries. The main idea is to push carbon prices up in order to support lower carbon technology.
But again the decisions have to be the result of a concerted and shared effort.
There is not one single solution. The only failure would be to short-sightedly impose something. That would be the receipt for a perfect failure.
The main priority should simply be finding a common strategy and on this Oettinger is right. On the other hand, his sharp position on subsidies leaves sufficient amount of room for doubts. Subsidies might be good for Germany, but not for other countries.
Sergio Matalucci