Will Fukushima Derail EU Energy Policy?
June 3rd, 2011Over the past five years, progress towards an EU energy policy has been impressive and seemed unstoppable. Numerous new initiatives have been launched by the European Commission including proposals for an energy strategy for the period until 2020, infrastructure development and energy efficiency, to name but a few. The European Council, on 4 February 2011, finally made a first step to align member states’ and EU energy policies when it “invited” member states to “inform” the European Commission of “all their new and existing bilateral energy agreements with third countries”. While this is not yet a compatibility test of member states’ agreements with EU objectives, it is a first step in this direction. As soon as the tragic events of Fukushima unfolded, the apparent consensus disappeared and the shortcomings of the current EU energy policy framework became evident.
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