22 Amendments of Martina MICHELS related to 2016/0030(COD)
Amendment 36 #
Proposal for a regulation
Citation 5 a (new)
Citation 5 a (new)
– having regards to the UNFCCC 2015 Paris Agreement.
Amendment 41 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 a (new)
Recital 1 a (new)
(1a) The European Union is committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80- 95% below 1990 levels by 2050 and to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 ºC above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5 ºC. To reach these objectives, 80% of the world’s known fossil fuels reserves need to stay in the ground. Therefore these objectives will require to organise an important phase-out of oil, coal and gas during the next 35 years.
Amendment 43 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 b (new)
Recital 1 b (new)
(1b) Gas highly contributes to climate change due to the significant amount of methane leaked all along its lifecycle. Therefore, it does not represent a low- carbon energy source.
Amendment 44 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 c (new)
Recital 1 c (new)
(1c) Access to affordable energy is a basic social right and energy poverty must be tackled.
Amendment 45 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 1 d (new)
Recital 1 d (new)
(1d) As gas accounts for almost 50% of the EU´s primary energy consumption for heating and cooling, of which 80% is used in buildings, Member States should primarily focus on energy efficiency measures, particularly in buildings, in order to reduce gas demand and thus EU dependence on foreign suppliers.
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 7
Recital 7
(7) An internal gas market that operates smoothlysupervised by public regulatory authorities is the best guarantee of security of energy supply across the Union and to reduce the exposure of individual Member States to the harmful effects of supply disruptions. Where a Member State’s security of supply is threatened, there is a risk that measures developed unilaterally by that Member State may jeopardise the proper functioning of the internal gas market and damage the gas supply to customers in other Member States. To allow the internal gas market to function even in the face ofMembers States to cope with a shortage of supply, provision must be made for solidarity and coordination in the response to supply crises, as regards both preventive action and the reaction to actual disruptions of supply.
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) Certain customers, including households and customers providing essential social services, are particularly vulnerable and may need social protection. A definition of such protected customers should not conflict with the Union solidarity mechanisms. This regulation should protect such costumers from soaring gas prices that are the result of a supply crisis.
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) Responsibility for security of gas supply should be shared by natural gas undertakings, Member States, acting through their competent national, regional and local authorities; and the Commission, within their respective remits. Such shared responsibility requires very close cooperation between these parties. However, customers using gas for electricity generation or industrial purposes may also have an important role to play in security of gas supply, as they can respond to a crisis by taking demand-side measures such as interruptible contracts and fuel switching, which have an immediate impact on the supply/demand balance.
Amendment 81 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 15 a (new)
Recital 15 a (new)
(15a) Energy efficiency measures have a fundamental role to play towards a secure energy system. Reduced gas consumption should be a priority to ensure Europe’s energy sovereignty and secure gas supply.
Amendment 92 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 22 a (new)
Recital 22 a (new)
(22a) The complementarity of European gas and electricity systems and demand side management can significantly improve European resilience and energy security and at the same time support the development of renewable energies.
Amendment 96 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 24
Recital 24
(24) The roles and responsibilities of all natural gas undertakings and competent authorities should therefore be defined precisely in order to keep the internal gas market functioning properlyunder the supervision of public regulatory authorities, particularly in the event of supply disruptions and crises. Such roles and responsibilities should be established in such a way as to ensure that a three-level approach is respected which would involve first the relevant natural gas undertakings and industry, then Member States at national or regional level, and then the Union. This Regulation should enable natural gas undertakings and customers to rely on market mechanisms for as long as possible when coping with disruptions. However, it should also provide for mechanisms that can be deployed when markets alone are no longer able to deal adequately with a gas supply disruption.
Amendment 97 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
Recital 25
(25) In the event of a supply crisis, market players should be given sufficient opportunity to respond to the situation with market-based measures. Where market measures have been exhausted and they are stillunder the supervision of public regulatory authorities should be obliged to respond to the situation. Where market measures are insufficient, Member States and their competent authorities should take measures to remove or mitigate the effects of the supply crisis.
Amendment 102 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 28
Recital 28
(28) Demand-side measures, such as reducing heating and cooling demand in buildings by coordinated energy efficiency measures, fuel switching or reducing the gas supply to large industrial consumers in an economically efficient order, may have a valuable role to play in ensuring energy security, if they can be applied quickly and significantly reduce demand in response to a supply disruption. More should be done to promote efficient energy use, particularly where demand-side measures are needed. The environmental impact of any demand and supply-side measures proposed must be taken into account, with preference being given, as far as possible, to measures that have least impact on the environment. At the same time, security of supply and competitiveness aspects must be taken into account as a priority. Environmental assessment of each new gas infrastructures must be conducted.
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 32
Recital 32
(32) The preventive action plans and emergency plans should be updated regularly and published. They should be subject to peer review. The peer review process allows for early identification of inconsistencies and measures that could endanger other Member States’ security of supply, thereby ensuring that plans from different regions are consistent with one another. It also enables Member States to share best practice. The plans should be coherent with the EU energy and climate targets on greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and renewable energy. The plans should be regularly updated in order to ensure their coherence with those objectives.
Amendment 113 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
This Regulation establishes provisions aimed at safeguarding the security of gas supply by ensuring the proper and continuous functioning of the internal market in natural gas (“gas”), by allowing for exceptional measures to be implemented when the market can no longer deliver the required gas supplies and by providing for a clear definition and attribution of responsibilities among natural gas undertakings, the Member States and the Union, in close cooperation with local and regional authorities, regarding both preventive action and the reaction to concrete disruptions of supply. This Regulation also provides transparent mechanisms, in a spirit of solidarity, for the coordination of planning for, and response to, an emergency at Member State, regional and Union levels. Whenever possible, sustainable measures will be preferred over the construction of new gas infrastructures.
Amendment 117 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point 2
Article 2 – paragraph 2 – point 2
(2) ‘essential social service’ means a healthfor the purpose of this regulation means a healthcare, social care, social housing, education, child care, emergency or security service;
Amendment 121 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 2 – paragraph 2a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 2a (new)
Member States may, in close cooperation with local and regional authorities, further specify and in duly justified cases broaden or tighten these definitions.
Amendment 129 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. The competent authority shall require the natural gas undertakings, that it identifies, to take measures, in close collaboration with electricity undertakings to ensure the supply of gasenergy to the protected customers of the Member State in each of the following cases:
Amendment 133 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 5 – paragraph 6
Article 5 – paragraph 6
6. The competent authorities shall ensure that conditions for supplies to protected customers are established without prejudice to the proper functioning of the internal energy market and at a fixed maximum price respecting the market value of the supplies to be defined on a yearly basis.
Amendment 139 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. The competent authorities of the Member States of each region as listed in Annex I, after consulting the natural gas and electricity undertakings, the relevant organisations representing the interests of household and industrial gas customers, including electricity producers, the national environmental agencies, and the national regulatory authorities, where they are not the competent authorities, shall establish jointly:
Amendment 150 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 7 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2 – point e a (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 5 – subparagraph 2 – point e a (new)
(ea) is not in line with the EU climate and energy targets.
Amendment 174 #
Proposal for a regulation
Article 14 – paragraph 1
Article 14 – paragraph 1
1. A Gas Coordination Group is established to facilitate the coordination of measures concerning security of gas supply. The Group shall be composed of representatives of the Member States, in particular of their competent authorities, local and regional authorities, as well as the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (the “Agency”), the ENTSO for Gas and representative bodies of the industry concerned and those of relevant customers. The Commission shall, in consultation with the Member States, decide on the composition of the Group, ensuring it is fully representative. The Commission shall chair the Group. The Group shall adopt its rules of procedure.