Heavy flak over expert group on competitiveness, energy and environment

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Published 16 February 2006 - Updated 29 June 2007

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Competitiveness Lisbon Agenda

The Greens in the European Parliament hit out at the "unbalanced" composition of the expert group that should advise EU policy makers on cross-sectoral issues related to competitiveness and sustainability.

On 8 February, Green MEP Claude Turmes accused Mr Verheugen of having proposed a very "unbalanced" composition for the high-level group. Turmes hit out in particular at the fact that in the energy technology sector, nuclear companies AREVA and Siemens got two seats, whereas no places were given to the renewable energies groups. He also criticised the fact that no representative of a consumer organisation was selected and only one representative from the environmental side.

Positions:

When asked by EurActiv, environment Commissioner Dimas recognised that there had been a problem but that the balance would be restored in a future proposal.

Gregor Kreuzhuber, spokesperson for Vice-President Verheugen told EurActiv that the list obtained by the Greens was never adopted and that the composition had been amended. "There was a lot of interest to be part of this group and, in the end, you will always have to establish a balance of unhappiness", Kreuzhuber said. He also said that there will be 4 MEPs and not 3 and that the Greens would probably also have a representative in the group.

Next steps:

The official list of the expert group will be finalised this week;
The High-Level Group will meet for the first time on 28 February;
The group has a mandate of 2 years.

Background:

In its October 2005 communication on industrial policy, the Commission announced the establishment of a High-Level Group on Competitiveness, Energy and the Environment. The expert group would be led by Vice-President Verheugen (Enterprise) and Commissioners Kroes (Competition), Dimas (Environment) and Piebalgs (Energy).

The mandate of the group would be to advise policy makers at EU and national level about cross-sectoral issues related to the interface between industrial, energy and environment policy. It would consist of 28 representatives (4 commissioners, 4 Member States representatives, 3 MEPs, 11 persons from industry and 6 from civil society - NGOs, unions, academia).