European Leaders Maintain Divergent Positions on Energy, Says UK’s Davey

European Ministers of Energy are progressively agreeing and turning the spotlight on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This comes despite member states maintain a systematically different position on how to proceed to increase energy security and deal with climate change.

‘The main issue of discussion at the Council meeting was the trade negotiations between the EU and the USA on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)… The Minister of Energy referred specifically in the need to ensure, through the TTIP agreement, positive results in the field of maritime and more favorable conditions of mobility for the providers of services,’ reads a note released on Thursday by Cyprus’ government. 

UK: DIVERGENT POSITIONS IN EUROPE

European leaders have also to find a way out of their divergent positions. As UK’s Edward Davey wrote on Thursday, European leaders have different interests. 

“A number of Member States wanted to ensure that energy security was discussed in tandem with the 2030 framework for climate and energy policies and others had concerns over interconnection targets. I broadly supported the report as a useful contribution to the debate on energy security,” Davey said on Thursday referring to the Informal Energy and Environment Council in Milan on 6 October.

According to Davey, European Ministers agreed on the need to move on with energy market integration plans. 

“The European Commission opened the session by outlining the main challenges to completing the internal energy market, focusing on the need for completion of the Network Code process, and the cross-border interconnections covered by the Projects of Common Interest process,” Davey reported