By Desmond Hinton-Beales - 24th November 2011
We probably won't achieve our 2020 goals
Robert Goebbels
The European commission's upcoming 'Energy roadmap 2050' has been branded as overambitious, a Parliament Magazine roundtable discussion has heard.
Luxembourgish S&D deputy Robert Goebbels, speaking at the event, organised in association with European Petroleum Industry Association at the European parliament on Tuesday, predicted that the "roadmap for 2050 will go into the recycling bin".
Goebbels said that it is "pretentious to assume knowledge of energy markets in 40 years' time", and that the "figures cited for 2050 are laughable".
"We probably won't achieve our 2020 goals," said the Luxembourg MEP, who stressed that the EU should "concentrate on the upcoming nine to 10 years and try to look to 2030".
"We must use resources better", said fellow deputy Edit Herczog, who hosted the event and stressed that the need to more efficiently use all materials had "moved from an environmental choice to an economic must".
Herczog said that it is crucial for the parliament to make itself heard in deciding the future energy direction of the EU and that there must be an "increased awareness of energy policy".
Secretary general of the Europia Isabelle Müller agreed, saying that energy is in need of a "wide society debate" and that parliament can play a "key role" in this.
"Our societies are moving away from the fossil age", said Müller, but stressed that the world will not be moving to a "no-carbon age" and that the transition must be carefully managed.
Müller also underlined the EU's rapidly diminishing share of global energy use, saying that the "EU cannot dictate to others as it is small and getting smaller".
Marten Westrup, from the energy policy and monitoring of electricity, gas, coal and oil markets unit of the commission's DG energy, said that the 2050 roadmap will look to promote "sustainability, security of supply and competitiveness".
"It is important to meet the 2020 objectives", said Westrup, but added that events beyond this date must be discussed as well.
"Investment cycles in energy are long term and we must make sure these match EU objectives," he said.
