Energy union

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With the Energy Union ( Engl. : Energy Union abbreviation: EU , French. "Union de l'Energie") is a deepening of the national energy and bond markets in the Member States of the European Union and a further development of the energy policy of the European Union intended.

The Energy Union is partly as energy and climate Union (ger .: Energy and Climate Union; French .: Union for Energy and climat), respectively.

The impetus for an energy union came from the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk against the background of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the uncertainties in terms of energy policy that it triggered . The Energy Union aims to reduce the European energy sector's dependency on imports and thus increase security of supply. In addition, it aims to create an integrated internal energy market, promote energy efficiency, reduce CO 2 emissions and promote research and innovation.

development

In 2016, the Slovak EU Council Presidency made the Energy Union a priority.

In 2008, a concept for a European Community for Renewable Energy (ERENE) was drawn up on behalf of the Heinrich Böll Foundation . On the initiative of Jacques Delors , the concept for a European Energy Community was presented by Sami Andoura, Leigh Hancher and Marc van der Woude in a study published in March 2010. In the political guidelines of the President of the Commission Jean-Claude Juncker of July 15, 2014, it was envisaged to reform and restructure Europe's energy policy and to create a new European energy union:

“ We also have to increase the share of renewable energy in the energy mix on our continent. This is not only a question of responsible climate protection policy, it is also indispensable in terms of industrial policy if energy is to be affordable in the medium term. I firmly believe in the potential of ecological growth. That's why I want Europe's Energy Union to be number one in the world for renewable energies . "

- Jean-Claude Juncker , Political guidelines for the next European Commission, p. 6.

The project was thus an important pillar and political priority of the commission headed by Jean-Claude Juncker. The Slovak EU Council Presidency in 2016 already had the creation of an Energy Union as a priority on the agenda. The European Council of March 19-20, 2015 already dealt with the creation of an energy union.

aims

Based on an ambitious climate policy, the Energy Union is intended to deepen and expand the internal energy market and cooperation within and outside the EU, make it crisis-proof and strengthen energy security, sustainability and competitiveness in the long term. The supply of consumers in the EU - d. H. of households and businesses - with safe, sustainable, competitive and affordable energy should be a priority. " Achieving this goal requires a fundamental change in the European energy system" .

The Energy Union is to develop into a demand-driven, decentralized energy supply that is largely independent of energy imports. However, it is critical to see that the national peculiarities and peculiarities according to this strategy paper should be replaced.

Fossil energy sources

Share of renewable energies in primary energy consumption in the EU and some neighboring countries in 2017:
  •  n / A
  •  5-10%
  •  10-20%
  •  20-30%
  •  30-40%
  •  40-50%
  •  50-60%
  •  > 60%

    • The main goal of the Energy Union is to free the economy from its dependence on fossil fuels . The dependency on fossil fuels must be reduced and the supply diversified (energy sources, suppliers and supply routes), a goal that the European Union has been pursuing since the first energy crisis in 1973 , but has not yet achieved. The dependencies were largely only changed from one energy source to another (e.g. petroleum - gas ) and from one supplier to another (e.g. OPEC - Russia or Algeria ).

    However, reducing the dependence on natural gas or liquefied natural gas (LNG) is currently not a topical issue, but merely reducing the dependence on a few countries. As of 2014, the EU countries are importing 53% of the fossil fuels they consume from outside the EU. The EU states spend more than one billion euros a day on these energy imports.

    The Commission also states in the context of the Energy Union: " Extraction of oil and gas from non-conventional sources (e.g. shale gas) in Europe is an option, provided that issues of public acceptance and environmental impact are properly addressed ".

    Atomic energy

    The creation of the Energy Union does not plan or even consider a move away from the use of nuclear energy in the European Union. Reference is expressly made to the “technological leadership position in the nuclear sector” and to the ITER nuclear fusion test reactor .

    Renewable energy

    The renewable energy has a major share in the planned Energy Union and meaning. The Commission refers to the shift to a CO 2 low-carbon economy as inevitable. Renewable energy companies in the EU had a total annual turnover of 129 billion euros in 2014 and employ more than one million people. 40% of all patents for technologies for the use of renewable energies are held by companies from the EU. This worldwide priority should be retained.

    Strategy and priorities

    Reducing CO 2 emissions from the economy is a focus of the strategy
    An expansion of the European high-voltage networks into a complete power network serves to secure the supply of electrical energy, especially with regard to the Europe-wide expansion of renewable energies
    The diversification of natural gas supplies including liquefied natural gas can reduce dependencies in terms of energy policy.

    Strategies

    The goals of the Energy Union up to 2020 are to be implemented through five mutually reinforcing and closely linked measures / strategies / priorities in the following areas:

    • Security of supply (VersS),
    • Internal energy market (EBM), the goal by 2020 is the electricity interconnection target : To achieve a degree of interconnection of at least 10% of your existing electricity generation capacity. This means that each Member State should design its power lines so that at least 10% of the electricity generated in its power plants can be transmitted across borders to neighboring countries.
    • Energy efficiency (RE),
    • Prevention of greenhouse gases (GHG, especially CO 2 emissions from the economy) and
    • Reinforcement of research and innovation (R&I) and competitiveness, can be achieved. The realization of the internal energy market and more efficient energy consumption should be the most important foundations for the security of energy supply.

    These priorities are based on the knowledge that

    • In 2014 the EU imported around 53% of its energy volume for around 400 billion euros , making it the world's largest energy importer.
    • Energy savings of 1% could cut natural gas imports by 2.6% each. 75% of the building stock in the EU is not energy efficient, 94% of the traffic depends on petroleum products, 90% of which are imported.
    • more than EUR 1 trillion must be invested in the EU's energy sector by 2020 .
    • Wholesale prices for electrical energy in European countries are still 30% above those in the USA and between 2012 and 2013 they rose by an average of 4.4% for households in the EU. The wholesale prices for gas are still more than twice as high as in the USA.

    Foreign policy

    The European Commission also sees the formation of an Energy Union as a means of foreign policy through which " the European Union can improve its ability to assert its weight on the global energy markets ". If the appropriate conditions are met, the Commission wants to ensure that " the EU examines a redefinition of its energy relations with Russia on the basis of a level playing field with regard to market opening, fair competition, environmental protection and security for the mutual benefit of both sides " and an expansion of the strategic energy partnership with Ukraine takes place.

    Time schedule

    With the framework strategy for a resilient Energy Union of 25 February 2015, the Commission also presented a timetable (“Roadmap for the Energy Union”). In the period from 2015 to 2020, ambitious goals have been formulated in order to achieve security of supply (VersS), an internal energy market (EBM), energy efficiency (RE), the prevention of greenhouse gases (GHG) and the strengthening of research and innovation (R&I).

    Institutional establishment

    EU Commissioner for the Energy Union in the Juncker Commission is Maroš Šefčovič .

    With regard to the Energy Union and climate protection, there is a dedicated project team that is supposed to steer and coordinate the work of several commissioners. The responsible vice-president of this project team is the EU Commissioner for the Energy Union , Maroš Šefčovič . Further

    Members of the core team Members of the needs team
    Elżbieta Bieńkowska Věra Jourová
    Miguel Arias Cañete Cecilia Malmström
    Corina Crețu Günther Oettinger
    Phil Hogan Pierre Moscovici
    Karmenu Vella Marianne Thyssen
    Carlos Moedas Margrethe Vestager
    Violeta Bulc

    ACER

    Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators Logo.svg

    The Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER, English: A gency for the C ooperation of E nergy R egulators) shall bear a part of the strategy to create the Energy Union. To this end, their powers are to be expanded and their independence strengthened, because there are currently EU-wide energy regulations in the European Union, but in practice there are 28 national regulatory frameworks.

    criticism

    The creation of a European Energy Union met with criticism even before the basic strategies were presented.

    Daniel Wetzel in " The Barely Fulfillable Vision of the Energy Union " criticizes this project as a mammoth project which, due to the different interests of the Union member states, would need a miracle to be realized.

    Web links

    literature

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ State of the Energy Union
    2. ↑ The European Energy Union: buzzword or important step towards integration? , by Georg Zachmann, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, undated
    3. ↑ Europe's largest peace project , by Wulf Schmiese, Cicero, May 13, 2015
    4. ↑ EU Energy Union ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs (BMEIA), November 2015  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vorarlberg.at
    5. ↑ Michael Rodi, Agnes Behm in ZEuS, Journal for European Law Studies, “Die Energieunion”, p. 179, edition 2/2016, Nomos Verlag, ISSN 1435-439X.
    6. ↑ Michael Rodi, Agnes Behm in ZEuS, Journal for European Law Studies, “Die Energieunion”, p. 180, edition 2/2016, Nomos Verlag, ISSN 1435-439X.
    7. ^ Political guidelines for the next European Commission . European Union website. Retrieved September 18, 2014.
    8. ↑ See also: Interview with Jerzy Buzek on the Energy Union ( memento of the original from January 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.europarl.de
    9. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 2
    10. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 2 f.
    11. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 2.
    12. ↑ See e.g. E.g .: * Antonius Opilio : European Energy Law , pp. 39 ff, 45, 247, 258.See also the Energy Union Package , European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 5.
    13. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 5.
    14. ^ Andrei David et al .: Heat Roadmap Europe: Large-Scale Electric Heat Pumps in District Heating Systems . In: Energies . tape 10 , no. 4 , 2017, p. 578 ff ., doi : 10.3390 / en10040578 .
    15. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 6.
    16. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 6
    17. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, February 25, 2015, p. 19 f.
    18. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 4.
    19. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, pp. 3 f, 17 f.
    20. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 3 f and Annex 1.
    21. ↑ Press Release Database , European Commission, February 25, 2015, factsheet.
    22. ↑ The EU has set itself the goal of achieving energy savings of at least 27% by 2030 - see Energy Union Package , European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 23 f.
    23. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 4.
    24. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 3.
    25. ↑ Six Member States obtain all of their natural gas supplies from a single external supplier and are therefore still extremely vulnerable to supply crises.
    26. ↑ See Communication from the Commission: “Energy efficiency and its contribution to energy security and the framework for climate and energy policy up to 2030”, COM (2014) 520.
    27. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 3, 15 f in connection with the “Strategy for a secure European energy supply”, COM (2014) 330.
    28. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, p. 3 in conjunction with an estimate by the Commission in this strategy paper. The International Energy Agency (IEA) is assuming that by 2025 1.3 trillion euros in investments will be necessary for generation, transport and distribution.
    29. ↑ Calculations by DG Energy based on the Platts market reports and the data from the IEA for the first half of 2014.
    30. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, pp. 7 f, 25.
    31. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, pp. 7 f, 25.
    32. ↑ COM (2015) 80 final, Energy Union Package .
    33. ↑ COM (2015) 80 final, Annex 1 , Roadmap for the Energy Union, pp. 2 to 11.
    34. ↑ Package on the Energy Union, European Commission, 25 February 2015, pp. 3, 11.
    35. ↑ See e.g. B .: The borders of the European Energy Union ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nachhaltigkeitsrat.de
    36. ↑ Die Welt , February 25, 2015.