European Energy Policy

1. The European Union’s Energy policy

Energy security

The European Union’s dependence on a limited number of countries for its energy supplies continues to grow. Such a situation, combined with events like the war between Russia and Georgia in the summer of 2008 and the gas crisis involving Ukraine and Russia in early 2009, further emphasises the need for a more integrated and consistent external energy policy within the European Union. This policy must meet three goals which mutually reinforce one another: market competitiveness, sustainability (particularly for environmental aspects) and security of supply (particularly regarding the diversification of origins and sources).

The Third Energy Package for the further integration of the Internal Energy Market, as well as the Climate and Energy Package (whose implementation via legislative proposals is underway), are essential components of this policy. The European Commission issued a communication on 13 November 2008 dealing with the Second Strategic Energy Review. In this review, the Commission proposes a European action plan which would serve as the basis for energy security and solidarity to complement the measures presented to date to meet the EU’s core objectives in the field of energy, i.e. sustainable development, competitiveness and security of supply. This action plan is based on five points: active diplomacy to ensure the diversification of suppliers and the development of major energy infrastructure projects, building up external energy relationships, crisis response mechanisms based on common oil and gas stocks, greater energy efficiency in buildings and products, and making the best use of the EU’s indigenous energy resources. Concerning the external facet, the goal is to have a consistent and targeted external energy policy which uses all available political means, both internal and external, and which allows the EU to speak with one voice. The Commission recommends that the EU work to diversify energy sources (renewable energy, biofuels, etc.), the geographic origin of the energy, and its transit routes (building pipelines, but also greater use of liquefied natural gas). Increased cooperation with producer, consumer and transit countries also plays a key role in the action plan.

Furthermore, in accordance with the Second Strategic Energy Review, the European Council of 19 and 20 March 2009 adopted a number of conclusions aiming to increase the EU’s energy security. In the meeting’s conclusions, European leaders:

• reiterated the need to develop energy infrastructure and interconnections. The Commission and the Member States have been asked to present detailed initiatives in order to implement work in the priority areas mentioned in the Second Strategic Energy Review (southern gas corridor, diversified and adequate liquefied natural gas supplies for Europe, effective interconnections for the Baltic region, the Mediterranean energy ring, north-south gas and electricity interconnections to Central and Eastern Europe, and building a wind farm in the North Sea). The Commission has been asked to present proposals on the new energy security and infrastructure instrument in early 2010.
• asked the Commission to present by 2009 proposals for revising legislation on security of supply for gas. This is to include provisions for setting up a crisis mechanism. 
• called on the Council to agree on the proposals in the Energy Efficiency Package and on the revision of the Energy Efficiency Action Plan by the end of the year. 
• requested that the Commission present, before the end of the year, proposals for concrete measures to be implemented to develop the southern European gas corridor, specifically a mechanism designed to make Caspian gas more easily accessible. 
• called on the Council and the European Parliament to reach an agreement on the Third Package for the Internal Energy Market before the end of the parliamentary term.

In addition, the Council is currently carrying out negotiations on a proposal for a Directive on oil stocks.

Climate and Energy Package

In January 2008, the European Commission made a number of legislative proposals targeted at implementing commitments made by the heads of state and government at the European Council of March 2007. Specifically, this involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% compared to 1990 levels (this figure will be increased to 30% by 2020 insofar as a new global agreement on climate change is reached), improving energy efficiency by 20% and increasing the share of renewable energy in overall consumption to 20% by 2020. Within the same timeframe, all Member States will have to increase renewable energy use in transport to 10%.
Among other things, the Commission’s legislative proposals include ambitious and binding objectives for each Member State. The measures adopted by the Council and the European Parliament concern the following issues:

1. Modifying the Directive on the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS) to ensure greater predictability and the harmonisation of the method used to set the ceiling and allocate emissions quotas to various installations by the Member States. Specific provisions have been included for industries generating high levels of pollution, the electricity generation sector and energy-intensive industries. Moreover, the new ETS (Emission Trading System) will cover both a greater number of sectors and a greater number of greenhouse gases (at present, only CO² emissions are taken into consideration).
   Income generated by the ETS will be paid out to Member States and should be used in part to help the EU’s economy become more environmentally friendly. It will also be possible to use some of these funds in the framework of an international agreement to assist developing countries fight climate change.
2. For sectors not covered by the ETS (such as transport, construction, services, small-scale industrial installations, agriculture and waste processing), the efforts needed to respect community commitments to reduce  greenhouse gas emissions  are allocated based on Member States’ Gross National Product. Belgium will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2020, with the EU average being 10%.
3. Each country will be allocated detailed and binding objectives for renewable energy. For example, by 2020 Belgium will have to draw 13% of its energy consumption from renewable sources of energy. Renewable energy use for transport purposes should reach 10% for all Member States.
4. The Member States also agreed on a proposal for a legal framework governing carbon capture and storage. A new community framework for State aid for the environment had already been sketched out beforehand.

2. The European Union’s Environment Policy

International developments have provided the impetus for the steady advancement of European Environment Policy since the 1970s. Major international conferences on the environment such as those of Stockholm (1972), Rio (1992) and the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change have made the environment a key topic on the European agenda, and today the EU is the pre-eminent player in this policy field with an impressive body of legislation. Going beyond this, over the past few years the EU has also increasingly taken on a leadership role at the multilateral level.

Treaty-law basis and competencies

The EU, more specifically the European Commission, is the key player in European environment policy. Since the signing of the Single European Act in 1986, the Community has had specific competencies to implement environmental policy further to the ‘Environment’ title of the EC Treaty (Treaty of Rome, 1957).

In addition, article two of the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty, 1992) introduced the principle of sustainable development and protection of the environment as general EU objectives. This implies, for example, that any measure taken by the EU must be evaluated against this basic precept.

Likewise, the policy on the protection of the environment must also be in conformance with the principles of the internal market and free trade, as guaranteed by Article 95 of the EC Treaty. In addition, environmental protection measures which also safeguard the internal market can be initiated pursuant to this article.

Articles 174 to 176 of the EC Treaty are in fact the foundations based on which community measures can be taken to protect the environment, and working from this the European Commission can take the initiative to draw up legislative proposals. Once this has been done, the proposals are discussed and approved by the European Council and the European Parliament via the co-decision procedure. This is the basic procedure as set out in article 175 of the EC Treaty, and the consultation procedure further to which the European Parliament cannot issue a decisive recommendation only applies in a limited number of cases. 

Specific legal measures for protecting the environment are part of a broader, multiannual policy framework. Such a strategic framework was first elaborated by the European Commission in 1972 and this resulted in the first Environment Action Programme (EAP). The current (sixth) multiannual programme runs from 2002 to 2012 and, besides the obvious EU-wide and transnational approach to environmental protection, it has opted for a more theme-based approach through various clusters and sub-themes. Within these clusters, the Commission outlines its policy and issues concrete legislative proposals.

Often, input is requested beforehand on a specific topic through the issuing of White Papers. In addition, broad and proactive consultations with civil society are becoming increasingly important in the decision-making process. Such consultations generally take the form of Green Papers or internet consultations.

How does Belgium defend its interests on the European scene?

Within the overall multilateral and European policy context, Belgium aims to have the greatest influence possible on the decision-making process and simultaneously defend its national interests. Environmental policy is no exception to this, but as a Member State Belgium needs to bear in mind the allocation of competences among the federal government and the regions, which have broad environmental remits under Belgian law.

In this context, there are various mechanisms and instruments available to determine the position that Belgium will adopt at European level or to harmonise the different positions taken within the country.

The cooperation agreement  of 8 March 1994 between the federal government, the communities and the regions regarding the representation of Belgium within the EU Council of Ministers attributes the coordination of the Belgian position to the Directorate-General for European Affairs and Coordination (DGE) of the Federal Public Service (FPS) Foreign Affairs. This arrangement applies for all points on the agenda of EU Councils, so also the Environment Council.

Another important internal body for coordination and consultation with regard to (European) environmental policy is the Coordination Committee for International Environment Policy (CCIM/CCPIE), which has been set up as a permanent body within the Interministerial Conference for the Environment.

Special points of interest for Belgium in European environmental policy

Belgium always strives to play a proactive and constructive role in discussions involving community environmental policy. Efforts are made to try and reconcile a high level of environmental protection with the principles of fair competition and the possible impact on the social fabric, all in accordance with the three pillars of sustainable development. Key concepts here are extensive harmonisation and the systematic application of the community method.