EU-ministers van Energie bespreken voortgang in Europese energiesector (en)

During the TTE (Energy) Council that will take place on December 12 in Brussels, the EU Ministers for Energy plan to endorse two Reports prepared by the Council - on the completion of the EU internal energy market and on the developments on the external dimension of the EU energy policy. This is the first time in the energy field that the Council adopts such reports. It signifies the importance of the issues concerned and highlights the priorities set by the Lithuanian EU Council Presidency.

The Council report on the completion of the EU internal energy market will present the progress of the implementation of the Third energy package, development of energy infrastructure and ending energy isolation among the Member States, ensuring investments and diversification of the energy supply, energy efficiency and pricing.

The Council report on the developments on the external dimension of the EU energy policy will cover the topics of the developments in the global energy market, progress and achievements of the EU external energy policy since the adoption of Council conclusions on the EU external energy policy in 2011. In this report Member States agree that further strengthening and improving of the EU external energy policy are needed in order to ensure the level playing field between EU and its external partners.

The Council will strive for political agreement on indirect land use change (so-called ILUC) directive. The Directive aims at decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from indirect land use change from the production of first generation biofuels, as well as limiting the use of food and feed sources for biofuels production, while existing investments should be protected.

The Ministers will be informed about the agreement on regulation of notification which was reached by the Lithuanian Presidency with the European Parliament. Regulation of notification of energy infrastructure investments aims to give an overview of the EU wide investments in energy infrastructure, based on the data received through biennial reporting by Member States.

The European Council in February 2011 confirmed the key goals of the EU energy policy - to complete the internal EU energy market by 2014, and to eliminate the so called “energy islands” by 2015. In order to assess the progress achieved, the European Council of May 2013 tasked the Council to prepare the progress reports on the implementation of the internal energy market and to review of developments of the external dimension of the EU energy policy, including the need to ensure level-playing field for external energy suppliers. In order to prepare these Council reports, the Lithuanian Presidency held in-depth discussions to identify the progress made as well as the remaining challenges.