Yesterday's informal meeting in Sweden was dominated by the new Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which the EU executive intends to table in late November.
The ministers primarily focused on ways to deliver energy savings, underlining the importance of buildings with a view to getting an agreement on the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive by the end of the year (EurActiv 25/06/09).
Moreover, policymakers exhanged views on making the EU's goal to become 20% more energy-efficient by 2020. This target is merely indicative, unlike the bloc's 2020 targets for cutting emissions by 20% and sourcing 20% of energy from renewables, which are legally binding.
Swedish Energy Minister Maud Olofsson stressed that all the ministers were committed to the target, but said there was no consensus on whether it should be made binding. Member states are more concerned about finding instruments to deliver the savings, she added, as a binding target would raise questions about how to measure energy improvements and follow up on them.
But Energy Commissioner Piebalgs said it was just a matter of finding a "clever way" to present it.
"I believe it is time and the political temperature is right to consider it," said Piebalgs.
Decision expected on energy regulators agency
Ministers also made progress on implementing the EU's energy market liberalisation agenda by agreeing to decide the seat of the future Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) in December. The agency was created by the third internal market package adopted last month (see EurActiv LinksDossier).
The decision has been pending since Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia started campaigning to host the agency earlier this summer (EurActiv 03/06/09). The 27 member states effectively acknowledged the three countries' candidacies.
"This sends a clear message to the Commission that the agency will be located in one of these three countries," Minister Olofsson said.
Commissioner Piebalgs welcomed the decision, saying that the EU executive could now move forward with necessary preparations to implement the third package.
The future agency aims to improve cross-border regulatory cooperation for gas and electricity transmission. The Commission has been eager to secure a decision on its location as the agency is due be fully operational by March 2011, leaving little time for preparation.
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