Energy: EU leads the way to single Euromed market

[Arthur Gordon Pym]

ENERGY: EU LEADS THE WAY TO SINGLE EUROMED MARKET

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 12 - The European Union is a growing energy market, reliable and attractive, while the Maghreb has enormous energy potential which still has not been exploited. These seem to be the conditions for a marriage which the EU hurriedly wants to celebrate, hoping that the Mediterranean partners will not want to prolong the engagement period. The content of the agreement will be established by the energy ministers of Euro-Mediterranean countries who will meet on December 17 in Limassol (Cyprus) to outline the route to a single energy market. Introduction of common regulations, interconnecting all countries in the Euro-Mediterranean area and using the resources of the South Mediterranean thanks to the experience of the North is the only task announced to date by the EU, which has drafted the final document but now needs the approval of its Mediterranean partners. For the period 2008-2013, the EU has set three objectives: harmonisation of the policies and aiming at integration of the markets, promoting sustainable development and developing infrastructure of common interest. In particular, the action must be focused on speeding up reforms in the South Mediterranean in order to push markets towards convergence, monitoring progress and collecting data on the progress of action in a database available to everyone, removing trade barriers and paving the way to agreements between the individual countries (without necessarily respecting a single approach). Moreover, in the document, which will be presented to the partners on December 17, the EU proposes to open the doors to Libya, inviting it among those which want to make their resources, infrastructure and knowledge available, "in accordance with Libyàs relations with other Mediterranean countries". According to Brussels, the future lies in the closer collaboration with Maghreb and Mashrek countries, rich in wind and sun and therefore particularly suitable for the development and use of clean energy, if provided by the appropriate means. "Oil prices have hit record highs, Global demand for hydrocarbons is increasing - by more than 50% by 2030, becoming increasingly unsustainable and domestic reserves in Europe are dwindling," EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said. Piebalgs, speaking at the Mediterranean Energy Observatory (OME) General Assembly meeting in Brussels two days ago, said that it is of common interest for the two coasts of the Mediterranean to tighten relations and create a single market which will bring development in South Mediterranean countries and solve the energy supply problem of the EU. The EU is focusing on projects including the trans-Saharan gas pipeline (TSGP), which will connect Nigeria, Algeria, Spain and Italy, and those which will unite Turkey, Greece and Italy, Maghreb and Europe, and then the electricity links between Tunisia and Italy, Spain and Morocco, Israel and Turkey, as well as between Algeria, Spain and Italy. (ANSAmed).

2007-12-12

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