ENERGY-CLIMATE STRATEGY : BINDING EU OBJECTIVE FOR RENEWABLES DEEMED INAPPLICABLE.

Proposing a binding objective only at EU level - and not at national level - for renewable energies by 2030 would, in practice, be inapplicable, an EU official said the day after the European Commission presented its new 2030 energy-climate strategy (see Europolitics 4793).

The white paper, adopted on 22 January, does not specify how to resolve this contradiction, whereby the EU is obliged to raise to 27% the share of renewables in the overall energy mix, while no national obligations are imposed. Currently, says the official, the Commission does not have the power to force a member state to adopt a binding objective, and even if it did it could not sanction the state for not adopting such an objective. This is not the case for the current strategy governing EU energy and climate policy, which sets a binding national objective by 2020. This official's scepticism is shared by many experts. As for the Commission, it has said it has the power to try and convince member states to take ad hoc measures to reach the global objective of 27%. Its tool for doing this will be a new system of governance. Member states, said Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard on 22 January, will be asked to draw up plans "'for competitive, secure and sustainable energy within the framework of the Community approach"...