Brussels to pose tough questions ahead of EU energy summit

Jan 4, 2011, 15:53 GMT

Brussels - European Union member states must decide how to fund the massive investments they need in their energy systems and how to meet energy-efficiency targets they have already agreed, the bloc's energy commissioner is expected to tell colleagues Wednesday.

On February 4, EU leaders are to meet in Brussels for talks on energy policy, the first time the issue has reached summit level. On Wednesday, the EU's executive, the European Commission, is to hold a first debate on the line it thinks states should take.

EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger is to tell his 26 colleagues that the main issues facing the bloc are infrastructure, energy efficiency and foreign policy, commission sources told the German Press Agency dpa.

Commission officials say that it will take around 1 trillion euros (1.3 trillion dollars) in investment to upgrade the bloc's energy grids to keep up with supply and demand over the next decade.

'We know we need the infrastructure: the question is who should pay and whether some of it should be public money,' one source said.

On energy efficiency, meanwhile, member states have already pledged to increase efficiency by 20 per cent before 2020. But commission figures show that current policies are only likely to yield a 9-per-cent improvement.

Oettinger is therefore set to call for a debate on how to live up to the 20-per-cent goal. Current proposals from various sources include setting binding national goals, as opposed to the current voluntary one, and setting energy standards for existing buildings, expanding the current rules, which only cover new buildings.

Both proposals are controversial, as the one would limit national governments' room for manoeuvre and the other would probably force extra costs on home-owners.

Finally, Oettinger is to call for a debate on how far the EU should negotiate with foreign energy suppliers as a bloc.

Currently, each state and company negotiates its own deals. But smaller members, in particular, would prefer to see the bloc as a whole in action, to boost their bargaining power.

That, again, is controversial, as it would mean national capitals ceding their exclusive control over energy foreign policy - something the larger states, in particular, are loath to do.

The commission is due to decide its stance later this month.