The energy projects are part of a €5 billion economic recovery plan, which also allocates further €1.02 billion to broadband Internet connections and rural development. The projects are intended to help Europe to recover from recession by creating jobs and putting it on track for a sustainable and green future.
The bulk of energy funding - €2.37 billion - is allocated to gas and electricity interconnections, including €200 million for the Nabucco gas pipeline. A further €565 million is allocated to offshore wind energy farms and €1 billion to setting up carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration plants.
The first €2 billion of the money will be spent in 2010 and further €1.98 billion in 2010.
The focus on grid inftrastructure followed January's gas crisis, during which Russia cut off gas supplies to transit country Ukraine, leaving large parts of Eastern Europe without electricity and heating.
After the Parliament vote, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said the EU could now start the projects immedidiately, which he said would make a real contribution to Europe's energy security. Building the new infrastructure is expected increase cooperation between the 27 member states during energy crises, while at the same time employing construction workers in the hardest-hit areas.
The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) welcomed the millions earmarked to offshore wind farms. "By including offshore wind and electricity grids in the plan, EU decision-makers have chosen the right areas to make a real difference long-term," said EWEA Chief Executive Christian Kjaer.
In contrast, green NGOs criticised the decision to throw €2.5 billion at the oil and gas industries, which they said would neither create jobs nor put Europe on a sustainable energy path.
On the eve of the Parliament vote, Friends of the Earth Europe published a study showing that billions of EU taxpayers' money had already been pumped into the fossil-fuel industry over the past five years. The environmentalists called on the EU to spend the money on renewables and energy efficiency improvements instead (EurActiv 05/05/09).
Energy efficiency projects possible
After much squabbling over the lack of energy efficiency projects in the final list, MEPs managed to sneak a provision into the agreement according to which unspent money "could" be used for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects (EurActiv 17/04/09). It was agreed that should the Commission judge, in its progress report in March 2010, that the priority projects had not been implemented, it will propose alternative projects for energy-efficiency improvement and renewable energies.
The Greens slammed the compromise package as a flawed, "old-fashioned state aid fund" which failed to invest in sectors where benefits would have included "immediate job creation, energy security and climate mitigation".
"Allocating part of the funds to EU cities to invest massively in the renovation of their public buildings or the modernisation of public transport would have had an immediate economic and employment impact. By contrast, the €1 billion given to big energy utilities for carbon capture and storage pilot projects, which will not be ready to go for three years, will have limited benefits on the wider economy," Green MEP Claude Turmes (Luxembourg) argued.
