Irish Regions Office Website

June 12, 2010

Council adopts future Energy Strategy

The recent Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council of Ministers meeting reached agreement on the need to endorse the forthcoming 10-year EU Energy Strategy by March 2011. This will succeed a current strategy in place since March 2007 which has been implemented through energy liberalisation proposals, the climate and energy package and the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan for financing low carbon technologies.

The timeline for the successor plan has been extended to 2020 in order to align it with the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. EU ministers have underlined that to achieve the latter's climate objectives it will be necessary to first fully implement existing legislation, while incorporating long-term climate goals and addressing external energy supply policy. They also stressed that striking a balance between sustainable energy aspirations and economic growth is becoming increasingly important in the current economic climate.

Ministers also noted that cost-efficient reporting and review mechanisms will be necessary to adapt policies to changing circumstances while guaranteeing national governments the right to decide on their energy choices.

Further details

Posted by iroronan at June 12, 2010 06:08 PM