European Energy Union will hit Putin where it hurts

Source: G.J.M. (Gerben-Jan) Gerbrandy i, published on Tuesday, February 24 2015.

European Liberals and Democrats today launched their proposals for the creation of an ambitious Energy Union, based on five key priority areas:

  • 1. 
    A Competitive Internal Energy Market
  • 2. 
    Increasing Energy Efficiency and Moderating Energy Demand
  • 3. 
    Strong European Governance
  • 4. 
    Research and Innovation drive the change
  • 5. 
    An Energy Investment Union

Guy Verhofstadt, President of the ALDE Group in the European Parliament commented today:

"Since 2008 Putin has been repeatedly “weaponising” the supply of energy to Ukraine, most recently by denying gas supplies to the Ukrainian Government, energy which they had already purchased. An ambitious Energy Union will not only create jobs, growth and tackle climate change, it will also hit Putin where it hurts most."

"Europe can no longer afford its addiction to imported fossil fuels from Russia and the Middle East. Our dependence on external energy resources has affected our ability to conduct an independent foreign policy. It's time for a European Energy Union with teeth."

Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy MEP, ENVI Coordinator for the ALDE group:

"We must now take a leap forward towards a fully-fledged European energy policy. Climate change, uncompetitive energy prices and an extremely high dependency on unreliable third country suppliers are threatening the sustainability of Europe’s energy system.”

"We will invest substantially in energy infrastructure the coming years. With the right choices now Europe will have cheap, clean and secure energy in abundance."

"The true test of the Energy Union will be overcoming the current fragmentation of energy policy into 28 different systems and reaping the full benefits of a common European approach.”

Morten Helveg Petersen MEP, Vice President of the European Parliament's Energy Committee said:

"I would like to give special attention to the business side of the Energy Union. Investors will only put their money in the many projects of the Energy Union if the associated regulatory framework is put in place, environmental legislation is predictable and competition policy is sound. The biggest barrier is regulatory uncertainty. We need to fix that."

The ALDE proposals for an Energy Union were submitted to Commissioner Sefcovic on Wednesday 11th February. The ALDE plan can be found here.

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