With rising oil prices, consuming nations in Europe and the United States are seeking to diversify their supply sources and reduce their consumption with efficiency measures, write Jean-Pierre Favennec and Nathalie Alazard-Toux in the December 2006 edition of 'Energies', a publication by oil major Total.

But while investments in exploration and production have increased, these have not yet followed in the same proportion as rising oil prices would suggest, the authors observe. They put forward a number of reasons to explain this:

"We need better protection for critical infrastructures in Europe. The majority of them are owned by private undertakings and we need to work in close partnership with them," said Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini in the European security research conference on 26 March 2007.

While the nuclear industry argues that the Euratom treaty is needed to continue promoting what they consider to be the energy of the future – capable of supplying Europe’s industries and citizens with cheap, non-polluting energy supplies – environmentalists have long campaigned to have the "out of date and undemocratic" treaty scrapped. 

The Polish NAP was accepted by the Commission on 26 March on condition that it is slashed to 208.5 million tonnes (Mt), or 26.7% down from the 284.6 Mt originally sought by Poland.

The Czech plan was accepted with similar conditions, with Brussels requiring a 14.8% cut in projected emissions, down to 86.8 Mt from the 101.9 Mt originally requested by the government.

With total emissions above 200 Mt, the Polish plan is the third-largest assessed so far, after Germany and the UK, said Commission spokesperson Barbara Helfferich.

The European Commission is currently working on a methodology to calculate precisely how much each member state will take up of the 20% overall renewable "burden", EU officials said on 16 March 2007.

A proposal for a comprehensive directive on renewable energies is due in the third quarter with the toughest part of negotiations set to focus on defining a precise figure for each member state. "This will be a difficult one," said one senior EU official speaking on condition of anonymity. "The headache is the figure."

According to the author, the recent statements by Algerian President Bouteflika and Russian President Putin expressing interest in the construction of a 'Gas-OPEC' has raised concern in Europe that Russia is further striving to "use energy as a lever to undermine European diplomacy". For their part, the Russian and Algerian leaders insist that their co-operation is intended to optimise their benefits and those of their customers alike. 

Europe’s pledge to unilaterally reduce greenhouse-gas emissions could not only damage economic growth and lead to industry moving to other parts of the world, but might also prove worthless if other countries refuse to join in the fight against climate change, said business leaders speaking at the European Business Summit on 16 March 2007. 

Furthermore, concrete action is now needed if the target is to be more than just a gesture, they added. 

EU officials outlined Commission plans to transform political commitments into hard legislation after a successful summit agreed on an action plan to set up a European energy policy earlier this month (EurActiv 13/03/07).

Michael Glos outlines the major topics that will dominate the agenda for energy policy during the German EU Presidency. These are: