Introduction
“I want to reform and reorganise Europe’s energy policy in a new European Energy Union. We need to pool our resources, combine our infrastructures and unite our negotiating power vis-à-vis third countries. We need to diversify our energy sources, and reduce the energy dependency of several of our Member States. […] [W]e need to strengthen the share of renewable energies on our continent. This is not only a matter of a responsible climate change policy. It is, at the same time, an industrial policy imperative if we still want to have affordable energy at our disposal in the medium term. I therefore want Europe’s Energy Union to become the world number one in renewable energies.”
– Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission
When six countries created the Coal and Steel Community more than 60 years ago, it marked a commitment by European governments to place common prosperity above national interests.
Today, European policy makers are facing an equally daunting and important challenge: the creation of a true European Energy Union in the era of climate change.
Europe’s ageing fossil energy system is in dire need of an overhaul. And the EU already has numerous tools to deepen coordination of energy policies across the Member States. Europe could boost jobs and growth by speeding up the transformation of the energy sector with targeted and coordinated investments.
In 2015, the European Commission presented its vision for an Energy Union, it is now time to deliver. WindEurope calls for a robust Energy Union governance to make sure Member States collectively deliver on the EU’s Climate and Energy objectives for 2030. Meeting these objectives will require an ambitious legislative framework for the post-2020 period.
The current renewable energy legislation must be adapted to become the bedrock of renewable energy investor certainty. This will go a long way to ensure wind energy continues to be deployed in today’s market realities and the EU lives up to its pledge of being the global leader in renewables.
Key texts
- WindEurope priorities for the post-2020 RES framework
- EWEA response to public consultation on a Renewable Energy Directive for the post-2020 period
- Renewables industry calls for ambitious post-2020 legislative package
- Design options for wind energy tenders
- Renewables industry calls on Member States to deliver on 2030 target
- Meeting the 2030 renewable energy objective thanks to a robust governance system
- Joint Statement on the Energy Union – A Fresh Push for the Internal Energy Market
- 2030 EU Climate and Energy Framework: How Europe can maximise its benefit from wind energy
Five priorities for a European Energy Union
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