New EU energy commissioner candidate toes the EC line

Brussels (Platts)--16Nov2004

The new European Union energy commissioner candidate, Latvian Andris Piebalgs,
followed the official European Commission line under questioning from European
parliamentarians late Monday. "Everybody in Europe would like to see more
efficient energy use, more renewables and more and stable energy supply,"
Piebalgs told the EP's energy committee. His priorities, if confirmed as
commissioner, would be to strengthen the links between energy and the
environment and research, to ensure the internal gas and electricity market
works well, reduce energy demand, promote energy efficiency, renewables and
nuclear safety and develop relations with oil and gas producing countries. The
new EU constitution--yet to be ratified--would help to integrate energy
policy, he said, and the EC's 2002 green paper on security of supply was a
good basis for future policy.

On the internal market, Piebalgs said his priority was to ensure that the
second gas and power market opening directives, which took effect on Jul 1
this year, were implemented correctly before taking any new measures. The EC
is planning a report on the state of the internal market at the end of next
year which would include political proposals, he said. The energy committee is
to forward its evaluation of Piebalgs to the parliament's political leaders
Tuesday. The EP is to vote on EC President-elect Jose Manuel Barroso's new
team as a whole on Thursday. Earlier Monday, Piebalgs told reporters that his
appointment had been "some kind of compromise," but that after a week of
studies he was sure he could manage the role. The original EU energy
commissioner candidate, Hungarian Laszlo Kovacs, failed to impress the energy
committee and Barroso moved him to the tax portfolio.

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