European Commission: Energy and environment policy relevant aspects of new COM Work Programme 2015
The Commission´s 2015 work programme was released this week, which President Juncker and his colleagues presented as “the actions to make a real difference for jobs, growth and investment and bring concrete benefits for citizens”, as “an agenda for change” and as “the translation of the ten priorities of this new Commission into concrete first deliverables”.
Overall, Mr Timmermans said that “2015 will be the year for delivering the announced Investment Plan to boost our economy, opening up the opportunities of the Digital Single Market for citizens and business, launching European Energy Union, and putting forward a new, balanced European Agenda on Migration.”
“Concentrating on the essentials”, the Work Programme includes 23 planned new initiatives (see here). Out of these, we raise your particular attention to the following of relevance/or having a link to the activities of Orgalime´s RE and Energy WGs:
- A Strategic Framework for the Energy Union focusing on: energy supply security; integration of national energy markets; reduction in European energy demand; decarbonising the energy mix and promoting research and innovation in the energy field. It will include the revision of the EU Emissions Trading System as part of the legislative framework post-2020.
- A (non-legislative) Communication on the Road to Paris – multilateral response to climate change.
- The Investment Plan for Europe: Legislative Follow-up actions include the setting up of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), promoting cooperation with National Promotional Banks and improving access to finance for SMEs.
- Digital Single Market (DSM) Package to ensure that consumers enjoy cross-border access to digital services, create a level-playing field for companies and create the conditions for a vibrant digital economy and society.
- Mid-term review of the Europe 2020 strategy, which earlier on also debated the setting of a resource efficiency target.
The Commission reviewed more than 450 pending legislative initiatives and issued a list of 80 initiatives to be withdrawn or modified (please see entire list here). In this respect:
- The proposals of the Circular Economy Package for amending waste related directives (including the waste, landfill, packaging end of life batteries or WEEE Directives) will be withdrawn and replaced by “new, more ambitious proposal by the end of 2015 to promote circular economy”.
- The assessment of the Air Package resulted in maintaining the proposal for regulating certain emissions from medium combustion plants (MCP), as it has the prospect to be adopted soon in the Council. Regarding the National Emission Ceilings Directive, however, the Commission plans to put forward a modified proposal as part of the legislative follow-up to the 2030 Energy and Climate Package.
- The pending amendment of the Directive on Taxation of Energy Products and Electricity will be withdrawn, since Council negotiations have resulted in a draft compromise text that has fully denatured the substance of the Commission proposal and moreover still finds no agreement in the Council.
- Since there will be a new inter-institutional Agreement on Better Regulation, several pending amendments on legal acts foreseeing the use of regulatory procedure with scrutiny (Comitology) will be withdrawn.
The Commission also issued a list of REFIT actions, which provides an update on the ongoing Commission work for the “rationalisation” of existing EU legislation:
- The Ecolabel and EMAS Regulations will undergo a Fitness Check “to evaluate and assess the contribution to competitiveness, sustainable consumption and production” (results expected for 2015).
- The 2002 Environmental Noise Directive will be evaluated.
- The Directive on the promotion of energy from Renewable Energies will be evaluated (results expected for 2015).
- The 3 “old” energy labelling directives of household electric refrigerators, freezers and their combinations, household dishwashers and washing machines will be repealed, since new delegated acts have been adopted.
- “Chemicals legislation other than REACH as well as related aspects of legislation applied to downstream industries” will be subject to a fitness check (to be started in 2015).
