EU renewable energy use targets must be binding: Barroso

Mar 6, 2007, 15:11 GMT

Brussels - The European Union should set a mandatory target for increasing renewable energy use across the 27-nation bloc, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday.

Barroso, speaking ahead of an EU summit on March 8-9, said measures to boost renewable energy use and slash greenhouse gas emissions were urgently needed to combat global warming.

The commission chief insisted that EU leaders must put aside their differences and agree that 20 per cent of Europe's overall energy consumption in 2020 would come from renewable energy sources.

'This target should be binding, for the success and credibility of our policy,' said Barroso.

The commission chief admitted that EU nations were divided on making the goal mandatory. But he insisted that only legally binding rules would encourage investments in renewable energies.

EU foreign ministers on Monday failed to reach agreement on making the 20 per cent goal legally binding, with several countries saying the target was too ambitious.

Diplomats said opposition to setting obligatory targets came from France, Poland, Finland, Luxembourg and Bulgaria with others also warning against imposing unreachable goals on governments.

France said that any discussion on increasing the use of clean, low-carbon energies must also mention nuclear energy, a controversial and divisive issue in Europe.

Barroso said the commission did not want to get involved in the nuclear controversy but insisted that countries must be free to choose whether to boycott nuclear energy or press ahead in the sector.

With measures to fight climate change set to dominate the EU summit, Barroso said EU nations must also make a commitment to reach a 20 per cent target for slashing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

An even higher 30 per cent reduction target could be endorsed by the EU for the period after 2012 - the expiry date for the Kyoto Protocol on global warming - provided other industrial nations agreed to such a goal and emerging nations made adequate contributions to slash their own CO2 emissions, he said.

The commission chief also vowed to press EU leaders on agreeing to 'unbundle' or break up their giant energy firms by separating gas and electricity production and distribution activities.

While several options were on the table for such a separation, Barroso said he favoured 'full unbundling' under which European energy production companies would sell off their distribution operators to independent buyers.

Most EU governments, however, favour the softer option of an 'effective separation' of energy production and delivery under which one company could engage in both activities but keep them legally apart.

While discussions on these questions were likely to be difficult at the summit, Barroso insisted that the EU's global credibility was at stake.

'The eyes of the world will be on us...from Washington to Moscow to Beijing,' said Barroso, adding that the summit was not about internal EU affairs but 'about global matters that will make a difference for the world.'

A more efficient EU energy sector and the ability to speak with one voice on the global energy stage would also boost the bloc's energy security, he said.

EU states have traditionally been reluctant to cede power on energy policy to the commission, arguing that such issues relate to national security.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the EU presidency, has said that measures to combat climate change will top the summit agenda.

However, discord on most issues within the bloc, has cast a shadow over the meeting.

Action to fight global warming will also head the agenda of the Group of Eight summit of leading industrial nations to be held in the north German Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm June 6-8.