The energy union road trip

Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič plans a journey across the EU to sell the idea that energy is best done together.

EU countries jealously guard their national sovereignty when it comes to national energy policies, but that isn’t stopping the Commission’s energy chief Maroš Šefčovič from embarking on a road show this week to push the Commission’s flagship energy union project.

The tour starts Wednesday in The Netherlands, where the Commission vice president will discuss the state of energy and climate policy with Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Economic Affairs Minister Henk Kamp.

But Šefčovič doesn’t want to leave the impression that Commission is venturing too far into member state territory, saying that the energy union “cannot and shouldn’t be imposed from Brussels.”

“The Commission made the first analysis for each member state, of the strengths and weaknesses of their energy system and of the new opportunities the energy union can bring,” Šefčovič said at a briefing this week.

There’s much that needs to be done if the bloc wants a functioning energy union, with Šefčovič saying that several of the obstacles are “country specific.”

EU members still have to improve energy efficiency, increase the number of cross-border interconnectors linking electricity and natural gas networks and boost regional cooperation. “We have quite a few interconnectors which are planned, for which financing is ready and still they don’t take off,” Šefčovič complained.

The countries on Šefčovič’s tour will get questions like: “Do you agree with our analysis? Are all the statistics and figures correct? What is your level of ambition? How do you want to transform your energy system?”

Member states will also have an opportunity to add elements or fine-tune data in the Commission’s country-specific analysis, Šefčovič said.

Based on responses, the Commission will prepare recommendations on how each country’s climate and energy plans should look, and whether national plans are compatible with EU goals. The coming months will also feed into the first state of the energy union report to be published in the fall.

“It should become a powerful annual tool to monitor progress and to see each year where we stand at the European, regional and national level,” said Šefčovič.

The Commission is also looking to clean up its reporting obligations, which according to an EU official “is something of a mess.” Part of the new governance system Šefčovič will be selling to EU member states is to combine reporting obligations under one national energy and climate plan to come out every two years probably, starting late 2016 or early 2017.

“Rationalizing our requirements shouldn’t weaken monitoring,” the EU official said.

The tour will not only bring Šefčovič face to face with member states’ political leaders, but also national parliaments and civil society. And before taking off, he stopped at the European Parliament in Strasbourg to give MEPs a run-down of his plans.

“Without clear checks, controls, monitoring, positive encouragement we would never achieve the results,” he said, adding that the Commission was fully aware that it is starting something new. “We are working in the area, which for many years was perceived as the area of national sovereignty despite the fact that … when it comes to energy since the Lisbon Treaty it’s a shared competence and so we clearly need to work together and cooperate.”

But convincing EU countries to sign up to the Commission’s ambitions will be a challenge.

“I am afraid you need a lot of magic and mystery to convince 28 member states that … we sincerely need this single energy union in order to stay competitive,” said Dutch Liberal MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy. “In each member state we see strong reluctance to give away sovereignty to Brussels.”

Šefčovič doesn’t disagree, saying that convincing members to a common European approach “will not be easy,” but that the tour could actually end up building support for the project.