TOWARDS AN ENERGY UNION?

Five Pillars

1. Energy security, solidarity and trust: Member States can regain control over their energy supplies through diversification. With a secure and clean power supply, Europe can reduce its reliance on energy imports by electrifying parts of the heating and transport sectors.
2. Completion of the European internal market for energy:The Energy Union should be the driving force behind European infrastructure. Transmission system operators and national regulators should increase cooperation at regional level to ensure the power market is brought up-to-date. In parallel, EU-wide market rules - known as Target Model - need to be revised to reward flexibility and further improve the cost efficient integration of variable energy into the grid.
3. Moderation of energy demand in Europe
4. Decarbonization of the European energy mix: First, an ambitious global climate deal pricing CO2 emissions spurred by a combative EU; second, meeting the EU’s greenhouse gas-reduction target via a functioning ETS. To direct investments towards zero-carbon energy technologies, the Energy Union should eliminate the oversupply of allowances on the carbon market thereby avoiding a carbon lock-in.
5. Research, science and innovation as part of the solution in all four areas.

Each of the pillar has its already well-established set of strong sectoral interests. The EU decision-making process will have to reconcile different and often competing interests and strike a politically acceptable and practically workable compromise on individual issues from EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) to energy efficiency.

Key Tasks

• Carefully consider the impact of policy proposals and decisions on the overall functioning of the energy system, including the impact on availability and prices for consumers and industry.
• Protect and promote the development of a truly functioning and interconnected energy system that will ensure service, affordable and low carbon for EU 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

It is estimated that the EU needs more than € 150 billion per year to modernize energy networks, grids and pipelines. Today the EU has a plethora of agencies, programmes and financial institutions which can help to further promote infrastructure to modernize the energy system but a more centralized coordination in the European Commission could help this important process along.

 Key stakeholders

• BusinessEurope which represents European companies and employers and speaks for national business federations from 33 countries;
• The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) which comprises 88 national trade union confederations in 37 countries, plus 10 European trade union federations;
• The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) which represents 40 national consumer organisations from 31 European countries;
• Green-10 which 10 represents ten of the largest environmental organisations and networks active on the European level.