The Energy Council meeting, which was struck by a power outage for half an hour, discussed three specific questions from the Commission: about energy efficiency, renewable energy and international co-operation on an international level. Although non-mandatory, the ambitious target of 2.7% energy efficiency improvement per year did not meet any large objections from Member States.

The Commission is asked to have a ‘differentiated yet focused approach’, referring to ‘the considerable differences between Member States’. The Energy Council is also on the conservative side concerning widening the scope of the Directive on the energy performance of buildings. “Take into account the experience from the ongoing implementation”, says the Council, but many states have not yet implemented any legislation. However, the Council fully agrees with dynamic updating of labels and ‘eliminating the least energy efficient’ appliances and equipment. It also calls for efficient monitoring and reporting, enough support for R&D and sufficient EU budgets.

Concerning renewable energy, many Member States took the stance that long-term targets (beyond 2010) should be indicative and not mandatory, but Piebalgs was strongly opposed to this idea. “Renewable energy is an important part of our energy policy. Therefore targets should in my view be mandatory. Of course these targets should be well-balanced. I hope that in the next Energy Council in February we can come back to this subject.