Tribune
| 01/04/2010
Article published on "EU Energy Policy Blog".
The challenges and opportunities which our societies face today call for decisive and immediate action. Urgent action is needed to address the challenges raised by the energy and climate crises, and to realise a transition to a low-carbon European economy. It is in the field of energy that the next industrial revolution will occur. Ensuring economic prosperity for all and meeting the challenge of climate change necessarily imply energy-related solutions. The urgency of the situation further requires public policies re-orienting societies to more sustainable, targeted and secure energy uses. As such, this action must be European, energy-specific and result-oriented.
Europeans should develop a common answer to common threats that are profoundly relevant to their current state of integration as well as to the future wellbeing of the global community. But all this requires setting collective ambitions at a higher level both in terms of substance and procedure. As in 1951 and 1957, there must be a concerted endeavour to help collective ambitions focus on energy. A unique challenge requires a unique response.
The solution proposed in Notre Europe's report in order to achieve that ultimate goal is to develop a real European Energy Community. This common project offers the member states the opportunity to design a common energy policy in the most efficient and democratic manner. It will require a stronger and more coherent European energy regulatory space governed by credible institutions capable of delivering effective solutions on the basis of democratic legitimacy. It should also be capable of exporting European regulatory norms in a credible and convincing way to the Union's partners on the international scene.
This common project will inevitably call for enhanced integration and the transfer of sovereignty to intervene in sensitive policy areas. The coordination of research policies, the steering of investment decisions, the creation of solidarity mechanisms and the need to speak in unison on the international scene all imply a powerful and supranational approach. This does not mean that the new energy policy will be an affair of distant technocrats.
On the contrary, a common energy policy can be a full success only if all participating states contribute. For example, specialisation between states offers the most efficient way to ensure a diversified energy portfolio and to create de facto solidarity. Within these logical limits each member state will not only be responsible for its own national production, but also for the European production. However, the conception and coordination of these policies requires a central and supranational decision making platform...
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