Draft conclusions from the 8 November meeting of EU leaders, seen by Euractiv, calls for Europe to achieve a ‘genuine’ Energy Union.
This in itself is nothing new.
EU leaders made the same call both in April and June of this year. Council President Charles Michel even wrote an opinion piece extolling the virtues of a genuine energy union back in October 2022.
This time, however, there is something new. The draft text includes a timeframe to achieve Europe’s dream of a genuine Energy Union – 2027.
To date, the elasticity of the word ‘genuine’ has proved very useful for EU diplomats.
Michel, who was writing only on behalf of himself, links the term with more integrated energy governance.
Creating this genuine energy union “will entail revisiting many of our long-standing beliefs or assumptions and acting more collectively, as Europeans,” he wrote.
EU leaders, unsurprisingly, are collectively less keen on transferring national powers to Brussels.
In the April and June’s Council conclusions, leaders suggested that a genuine energy union is simply a more decarbonised and electrified energy system. Governance was not mentioned.
If leaders are now setting a hard deadline of 2027, they may also give a clearer idea of what exactly constitutes a ‘genuine’ Energy Union.
There is another possible outcome. In the draft document, the 2027 deadline is in brackets – meaning it may not be included in the ultimate text.
Either way, the final 8 November conclusions will be worth a read. Genuinely. [DC]
