Translation of "Division Economie et Politique de l'énergie " (French → English) :

Also present: From the Research Branch of the Library of Parliament: Mr. Anthony Chapman, Economics Division, and Mr. Gerald Schmitz, Political and Social Affairs Division.

Witnesses: From the Department of Finance: Richard Botham, Chief, Knowledge and Innovation, Economic and Corporate Finance Branch; Werner Heiss, Director and General Counsel, General Legal Services; Bob Bartlett, Senior Analyst, Government Financing Section, Financial Markets Division, Financial Sector Policy Branch.

Considers that the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund can contribute to meeting the targets under Directive 2009/28/EC and the 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy, as well as funding research and innovation in connection with renewable energy generation, while supporting job creation and economic growth; underlines the importance of thematic concentration within cohesion policy, since this should contribute to channelling investment towards the low-carbon economy, including renewable energies, especially in the light of the prominent role ...[+++]of the thematic objective ‘Supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors’; calls on the Member States to increase their efforts and make best use of the funding opportunities existing for this purpose, while underlining the opportunities for local business development and job creation; recalls the common provisions in the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund supporting the eligibility of projects related to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources in private households, public buildings and enterprises, and believes that regional renewable energy market integration, which could be achieved through such funding, would represent an important contribution of cohesion policy in this respect.

Notes that energy reporting obligations as part of a framework are essential to evaluate the progress and implementation of existing energy efficiency legislation; regrets, however, the excessive energy reporting obligations imposed, also by gold-plating by Member States, on businesses, energy producers, consumers and public authorities, which limit the potential for growth and innovation; stresses that reporting duties should wherever possible be simplified in order to reduce administrative burdens and costs; criticises the fact that data obtained in reporting are often not comparable across the EU due to different breakdowns, methodologies and standards; calls on the Commission ...[+++] to reduce, including through digital solutions, the administrative burden related to reporting obligations and to establish more guidelines on data comparability for better data evaluation; calls for aligning energy demand projections in line with cost-effective saving potential in key sectors, and believes that cutting red tape will speed up the implementation of energy efficiency measures; notes that applying the ‘energy efficiency first’ principle requires reviewing energy planning and reporting and improving policy coherence in order to ensure their mutual reinforcement, recognising that saving energy is Europe’s first and most secure source of energy; notes that energy efficiency can be the best energy ‘source’ investment, improving affordability of energy, driving down the need for additional and costly supply-side infrastructure and helping tackle climate change.

2. The Commission shall, in cooperation with the Member States, conduct studies on saving energy in the use of spectrum in order to contribute to a low-carbon policy, and shall consider making spectrum available for wireless technologies with a potential for improving energy saving and efficiency of other distribution networks such as water supply, including smart energy grids and smart metering systems.

- 2 - Main topics of research will be : 1. the Community's internal market programme raises many issues of microeconomic analysis, including industrial organisation and the economics of regulatory policies (e.g. standards) that deserve urgent attention; 2. European integration economics, including issues of intra- European regional North- South relations, raises a further set of issues not well covered by the research community; 3. the determinants of economic growth in Western Europe, including dynamic factors such as advanced tech ...[+++]nology and innovation, and constraints, such as environmental concerns; 4. so-called "systemic" issues in the monetary areas and macroeconomic and fiscal policy coordination have received increasing academic attention in recent years, but rarely dealing adequately with their intra-European as compared to their international aspects; 5. problems of trade policy and the role of Western Europe in the international division of labour; 6. employment and social policy issues, which have quite different characteristics in Western Europe, compared to the United States or Japan; 7. methodological and modelling problems relevant to the above mentioned subjects or otherwise of fundamental interest.