State of the negotiations on the EU climate change and energy package

Speech by Fiona (on behalf of ALDE) on Thu 4th Dec 2008

Mr President, thanks to the determination of the rapporteur, we have made huge progress in the negotiations on renewable energy. It was disappointing not to reach complete agreement last night, but the one clause at issue is not just about keeping inviolate the 20% by 2020 target: MEPs have worked long and hard to ensure that there is legal certainty in the flexibility mechanisms which Member States can use to help them achieve their renewables targets. A review of the flexibility mechanisms in 2014 risks undoing all that good work. It risks undermining the large-scale development of renewables and green-collar jobs which promise a renaissance for European regions like mine, North-East England. That is why we cannot give in on wording which is being insisted on by just one Member State.

But much positive progress has been made on the Renewables Directive. We have achieved a strong text on biofuels and, crucially, indirect land-use change will now be factored in at the insistence of the Parliament. I am also pleased that Member States will be required to push energy efficiency in order to achieve their renewables targets more easily.

At this point we must keep our nerve on the Renewables Directive - as indeed on the entire climate package. This legislation must work well for the EU, but it must also work as a strong offer on the table of the global negotiations.