Binding targets to increase energy savings when gas, electricity or petrol is sold to customers at retail points were entirely stripped out of a Commission proposal on 28 June as the bill was submitted for approval to national energy ministers from the EU.
The vote comes as a serious blow to the Commission just days after it put forward an ambitious energy efficiency proposal that it claimed could save Europe some 20% energy consumption by 2020 (EurActiv, 23 June 2005).
Earlier this month, MEPs had backed the proposal and even tightened up the Commission draft by setting higher energy saving targets for both the public sector and for private users (EurActiv, 7 June 2005).
Under the draft voted on by Parliament, energy consumption by private and public end users was to be cut by an overall 11.5% between 2006 and 2015. The Commission had initially proposed a 9% overall cut by 2015 (1% per year on average).
But according to a press statement from the Luxembourg Presidency, the ministers rejected the proposals and replaced them with indicative targets only. In some way though, member states would be "obliged to take measures" to achieve a 6% reduction in energy consumption over a six-year period starting at an undisclosed date.
Moreover, ministers also scrapped the Commission's suggestion to set higher targets for the public sector - at 1.5% per year - and replaced it with an assertion that governments ensure the public sector plays an exemplary role in fulfilling the directive's requirements.
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