EU Polish Presidency – Energy & Environment Agenda

Between 1 July and 31 December 2011, Poland will hold the EU presidency.

The three main strategic priorities were identified as: “European Integration as a Source of Growth”, “Secure Europe” and “Europe Benefiting from Openness”. Belonging to the “Secure Europe” priority, the external energy policy is seen as fundamentally important for the future of the European Union in an increasingly globalised world. EU’s position vis-à-vis the main producers, consumers and energy transit countries can be far stronger, if decisive measures are taken to enable the EU to operate effectively in the international energy environment. Work on a new energy strategy for the coming decade and the challenges facing the EU in the medium and longterm call for an analysis of the EU’s existing external energy policy and for drawing up recommendations to enhance it.

Operational priorities: Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council

The changing situation in the EU energy market poses new challenges for Europe which require a joint and deeper effort on the part of Member States in order to implement the goals of EU energy policy as set out in the Lisbon Treaty. The EU needs a stable and long-term strategy to promote the development of the energy sector in the 2050 perspective. In practice, the Polish Presidency intends to:

• support the aspirations of European countries and institutions to fully implement measures already adopted, such as the third liberalisation package.
• achieve the greatest possible progress on the Infrastructure Package and Energy Efficiency Acts, which represent the core energy legislation on the agenda in the second half of 2011.
• finalise the ongoing negotiations on the Regulation on the Integrity and Transparency of the Energy Market
• (REMIT).
• conclude work on legal acts whose adoption is conditional on external time constraints, as is the case with the new EU-US Energy Star Agreement.
• play a role in defining the EU’s external energy policy. The Presidency plans to hold a debate on the ways in which this policy should be developed in the coming years and on the mechanisms that could help strengthen the EU’s voice in the global energy dialogue.

Operational priorities: Environment Council

• Climate policy: The world needs a new post-2012 climate policy, which would guarantee global and effective climate protection measures based on solidarity. The aim of the Presidency is to work out a common EU position in this regard in the Council and to strive to achieve a binding new agreement during the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, Republic of South Africa (COP17/MOP7).
• Biodiversity: The task of the Presidency will be to continue work on implementing the EU Biodiversity Action Plan. The Presidency intends to hold a discussion on the subject of funds devoted to the conservation of biological diversity. The Presidency intends to work on developing instruments that could help prevent the loss of biodiversity, such as spatial planning and sustainable forest management.
• Effective use of resources: The Presidency will hold a discussion at the informal Council in July on the transition to a resource-efficient Europe. In addition, the Presidency will work on a Road Map to plan EU actions in this area.
• Global process of sustainable development (Rio +20): The 2012 Rio Conference will address two main tasks of paramount importance for the European Union and its global standing: the green economy and the global institutional framework for sustainable development.  The Presidency intends to actively support an EU-wide dialogue to develop ambitious EU proposals for the 2012 Earth Summit. To this end, a high level discussion on how to prepare the EU for this event is planned for 31 October
  
• Environmental policy instruments: The Presidency intends to focus special attention on the review of the 6th Environmental Action Programme and to work on constructive input to a new proposal for the 7th Programme. The Presidency will hold discussions with the European Parliament aimed at reaching agreement at second reading on the Biocidal Products Regulation and the WEEE Directive.

Calendar of ministerial meetings under the Polish Predidency – Energy & Environment

• 11 – 12 July: Environment Council (informal), Sopot
• 19 – 20 September: Transportation, Telecommunications and Energy Council (TTE – Energy; informal), Wrocław
• 10 October: Environment Council (ENVI), Luxembourg
• 10 – 11 October: Ministerial Energy Conference and General Assembly of the Council of European Energy Regulators on “Competitive and integrated market as a guarantee of energy security”, Cracow
• 11 – 12 October: Conference in preparation for the Rio+20 Global Summit, Warsaw
• 24 November: Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council – Energy (TTE - Energy), Brussels
• 19 December: Environment Council (ENVI), Brussels