Towards a True European Energy Community

The European Union imports more that 80% of the energy it uses. Be it coal, gas or petrol, the EU is dependent on external providers, namely Russia, Norway, South Africa, Colombia or the United States. The quasi-total dependence of its most Eastern member States on Russia leads to political tensions and sometimes to the disruption of supply.

In the framework of the European Year for Development and the upcoming COP21 summit in Paris, we cast an eye at the need for the EU to develop a genuine European energy union as a political and economic imperative.

The European Commission has recently proposed the creation of an Energy Union to “make energy secure, affordable and sustainable”. But most of the proposals concern purely economic aspects: securing supply and the creation of a fully integrated internal energy market. Reference to energy efficiency is mentioned, as is the reduction of emissions, but the measures envisaged for the latter would only consist in renewing the existing European emissions trading scheme, there is no real will to drastically reduce sources of polluting emissions.

Jacques Delors recently proposed a modification of the Treaties in view of creating this European Energy Union. It would be in line with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, 1951) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM), set up in the first days of the European integration project with a clear objective to lead to a true European energy community.

This is the policy that the ME-F supports. Unfortunately, some EU member States, namely the UK, have always opposed it.

This policy would include the creation of an internal energy market, which doesn’t currently exist, and would establish connections between national gas, petrol and electricity networks, create a common supply policy, and massively invest in energy sources that do not emit greenhouse gases, with a particular focus on renewables and smart grids.

It is worth noting that, with regards to renewable energies, the EU still has a significant technological potential that should be protected from the Chinese “ogre”. Indeed, China is in the process of imposing itself on the renewables equipment market. This came to light three years ago when an American giant of the sector went bankrupt. The European Commission should pay particular attention to this major factor for energy security and the protection of labour. Unfortunately no reference is made to this aspect of the issue.

Regarding environment protection and the fight against climate change, drastic measures should be taken at a global level and the EU should take leadership. It is inacceptable that, for example, coal-fired power stations are not only allowed to reject waste gas into the atmosphere, but that they even receive subsidies in various EU member States. Research on carbon capture and storage is being subsidised with public money, why isn’t it entirely funded by those who actually produce the CO2?

The same drift is taking place with certain renewable energies, namely photovoltaics. It is a well-known fact that these technologies are already producing waste and will continue to do so in the future. Some of this waste contains toxic materials such as heavy metals, but despite this there is currently no legislation in place to impose rules on waste management. Prevention is better than cure, the problem needs to be tackled urgently and the immoral use of illegal waste dumps in certain developing countries needs to end. The same can be said for the large panels used by these photovoltaic stations, the cleaning of which needs to be done on an industrial scale. Where do the cleaning detergents go? To underground aquifers! What are authorities waiting for to impose the recycling of these liquids? In both cases the cost should be borne by the owners of the power stations.

However, Europe alone cannot do anything. It needs to take action on the international level and convince the other global actors. It will be a difficult struggle, as the 2015 research budget of the US Department of Energy indicates: all the budget lines are maintained or increased, except the one for energy efficiency and renewables, which is decreased by 54% !

Find out more about the European Movement Members’ EYD blog here.