The launch of a “comprehensive Africa-Europe Energy partnership” should be one of the EU’s international energy policy top priorities, alongside the negotiation of an energy partnership with Russia, according to the Commission’s Communication on a new energy policy for Europe, presented on 10 January 2007 (EurActiv 10/01/06).
“The importance of Africa as an energy supplier has increased greatly in recent years, but its potential is still greater,” stated the report, adding that the dialogue should include security of supply, technology transfer in renewable energy, sustainable exploitation of resources and respect for good governance.
The Commission also suggested creating a regional energy market as part of its neighbourhood policy with the Western Balkans, as well as countries like Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine and Norway, and called for enhanced energy relationships with North African supplier and transit countries, such as Algeria, Egypt and Libya.
The need to diversify EU energy sources was again highlighted this week by Russia's decision to suspend oil shipments through Belarus (EurActiv 09/01/07). A similar incident in January 2006 had initially opened Europe's eyes to its excessive dependence on the energy giant - which provides the EU with both 25% of its oil consumption and of its gas consumption - when Moscow cut off gas deliveries to Ukraine, leaving several European countries without gas (EurActiv 04/01/06).
Since then, the EU has been looking to negotiate a fully-fledged energy cooperation agreement with Russia that would provide certain guarantees to member states, but trade and political tensions have delayed progress in this area (EurActiv 27/11/06). Merkel is scheduled to travel to Moscow on 21 January to discuss the renewal of an EU-Russia Co-operation and Partnership Agreement (PCA) where energy supply and investment are set to feature prominently.
The Commission says that the Community’s dependence on energy imports could rise from 50% of total EU energy consumption today to 65% in 2030. This poses a particular risk for member states that continue to depend largely or completely on one single supplier.
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