21 Amendments of Cora van NIEUWENHUIZEN related to 2015/2113(INI)
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas many countries are heavily reliant on a single and often unreliable supplier, including some that rely entirely on Russia for their natural gas and others that heavily rely on Northern Africa, which leaves them vulnerable to supply disruptions, whether these are caused by political or commercial disputes, or infrastructure failure;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the 2006, 2009, 2014 and 200915 gas disputes between Russia and transit- country Ukraine left many EU countries with severe shortages;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas 30 million European jobs are at risk owing to the US shale gas boom, as energy-intensive industries move operations to the US, wherewill always be at risk so long as European industry fails to remain competitive, and therefore any improvements to industrial energy efficiency helping to reduce overall energy costs are far lowervital;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q a (new)
Recital Q a (new)
Qa. whereas competitive energy prices are crucial to achieve the EU's 20% reindustrialisation targets by 2020;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T a (new)
Recital T a (new)
Ta. whereas the EU energy retail market does not function properly at present; whereas in many member states monopoly networks remain active and many consumers have too little choice between energy suppliers;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Z a (new)
Recital Z a (new)
Za. whereas a reformed EU ETS is an important tool in decarbonising Europe's energy system and achieving the Union's long term emission reductions target;
Amendment 282 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls on the Commission to actively pursue themore sustainable and competitive energy prices for European citizens and businesses and diversification of supply (energy sources, suppliers and routes); to this end, calls on the Commission to promote the construction of the relevant energy infrastructure priority corridors, as specified in Annex I to the trans-European energy networks (TEN-E) regulation and Part II of the Annex I to the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) regulation, such as the Southern Gas Corridor;
Amendment 307 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines that energy suppliers coming from third countries must be subject to the EU acquis while operating on the common market, in particular the EU competition and state aid legislation, and calls on the Commission to enforce EU law by all means available in order to allow energy to flow freely in the EU and prevent distortions in the internal market;
Amendment 331 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Notes that, in the context of the future Energy Union, security of energy supply isand European competitiveness are the most pressing issues and that Member States must coordinate and cooperate in this respect with their neighbours when developing their energy policies; calls on the Commission, in this respect, to examine how the current architecture of national preventive and emergency response measures could be streamlined at both regional and EU level;
Amendment 366 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Stresses that greater transparency of intergovernmental agreements could be achieved by strengthening the role of the Commission in energy-related negotiations involving one or more Member States and third countries, including by having the Commission participate in those negotiations if there is aan advisory capacity in those negotiations in order to mitigate the risks of abuse of a dominant position by one supplier; notes that furthermore the Commission should carry out ex-ante and ex-post assessments and draw up both a positive and a negative list of agreement clauses, such as export ban and destination clauses;
Amendment 381 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
Amendment 386 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Calls on the Commission to enhance the transparency of commercial gas contracts in order to effectively remove abusive clauses and ensure better ex-ante compliance checks with EU law and energy security provisions; Underlines that such enhanced transparency will increase the negotiating power of Member States and their commercial enterprises, and will help to ensure a more market based approach to international energy agreements, while fully respecting commercially sensitive information;
Amendment 390 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to prepare draft contract templates and guidelines including an indicative list of abusive clauseclauses relevant to Union interests in order to create a reference for competent authorities and companies in their contracting activities; Calls on the Member States to increase their cooperation on the information exchange mechanism with regard to intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) with third countries in the field of energy, in order to increase transparency and leverage their negotiating power vis- à-vis third countries, thereby securing more affordable energy for European consumers;
Amendment 398 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Stresses that in order to ensure a level playing field and strengthen the bargaining position of EU companies vis-à-vis external suppliers, key features of the contracts should be aggregated and regularly published so as to establish a transparent benchmark which can be referred to by competent authorities and companies in their future negotiations, whilst protecting the confidentiality of sensitive information, thereby ensuring a more market based approach and genuine competition in energy contracts and avoiding abuse of dominant positions by third countries;
Amendment 414 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission to establish an EU-wide target and develop concrete actions for reducing energy import dependency and to publish regular progress reports in this respect;
Amendment 556 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21a. Keeping in mind that an important goal of the EU internal energy market is achieving sustainable energy prices for citizens and competitive energy prices for enterprises; stresses, for that reason, that a better functioning of the EU energy retail market should be effectuated by ending existing energy monopolies and by providing for free choice between energy suppliers for consumers;
Amendment 569 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Reiterates the importance of ownership unbundling as put forward by the Third Energy Package; calls on the Commission to assess to which degree national regulatory authorities (NRAs) enforce the conditions described in the opinions given by the Commission on the certification of transmission system operators (TSOs);
Amendment 629 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 b (new)
Paragraph 24 b (new)
24b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take investment in smaller scale gas and electricity interconnectors linking neighbouring regions equally serious as larger PCIs; calls on the Commission and Member States to work closely together with regional authorities when developing these interconnectors;
Amendment 681 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Supports regional approaches where there are particular regional challenges or opportunities, or where acting regionally could speed up market integration with the aim of an EU wide internal energy market, including through the creation of regional hubs to enhance market liquidity;
Amendment 728 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Emphasises the role that decentralised smart energy technologies, such as cogeneration, in particular micro- CHP, and smart grids can play in reducing CO2-emissions;
Amendment 1097 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 46
Paragraph 46
46. Believes that greater effort in developing innovative low-emission technologies and solutions, such as CCS, micro-CHP and smart grids, can bring significant long-term benefits in terms of reduced generation costs and reduced energy demand;