By Filipe Rufino - 27th February 2007
MEPs backed energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs during a parliament hearing on future EU energy policy.
Several MEPs at the Tuesday hearing voiced their support for the commission's push to get member states to endorse binding targets to cut greenhouse gases, boost renewables and “unbundle” national energy companies.
The idea is to press European leaders on both fronts in order to encourage them to give a clear political signal at the March summit, a parliamentary aide told the press.
"Energy dependency makes Europe not only economically weak, but also geopolitically," said Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a Spanish centre-right MEP who supports the binding target for renewables.
Portuguese centre-right MEP Joao de Deus Pinheiro argued that "unless we have a binding target, it will be like the Lisbon strategy" – in a reference to the ups-and-downs in the EU's progress in pursuing the Lisbon goals.
Presenting his case to parliament, Piebalgs said binding targets were key in order to prevent major governments from undertaking policy changes as elections loom, derailing overall progress.
"If it is not binding, the next government can always change the policy", he stressed.
The energy commissioner also did not mince his words on the issue of unbundling – that is, decoupling energy suppliers from distributors in order to generate more competition in Europe’s energy markets.
"Today, the customer has no rights, actually. You want electricity and you pay. And I think he should have rights", Piebalgs told the packed hearing.
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