• EU leaders agree 'Energy Union' blueprint
    14 replies, posted
[quote]EU leaders clinched a deal on Thursday (19 March) on measures aimed at reducing dependence on Russian gas and building a so-called Energy Union. According to summit conclusions, they agreed to “accelerating infrastructure projects, including interconnections in particular to peripheral regions, for electricity and gas to ensure energy security and a well-functioning internal energy market”. They also said they will be “fully implementing and rigorously enforcing existing energy legislation”. They call for “ensuring full compliance with EU law of all agreements related to the buying of gas from external suppliers, notably by reinforcing transparency of such agreements and compatibility with EU energy security provisions”. Donald Tusk, the EU Council chairman, told press that: “All leaders agreed to reinforce transparency in the gas market, so suppliers cannot abuse the position to break EU law, and reduce our energy security”.[/quote] [URL="https://euobserver.com/news/128079"]Source[/URL]
Cool. Does this help the Ukraine?
[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;47358310]Cool. Does this help the Ukraine?[/QUOTE] Not really, it's less "we'll help Ukraine" and more "Russia's being a big meanie so we don't wanna play with them anymore."
How will this affect Germany? I know Merkel has a hard-on for the anti-nuclear crowd after her government essentially banished nuclear energy.
[QUOTE=TheNerdPest14;47358310]Cool. Does this help the Ukraine?[/QUOTE] Not at all, because if EU doesn't need Russian gas which goes trough Ukraine, they wont give a damn about both Russia and Ukraine.
Wow, if this is adopted it literally would give the EU power to shutoff the power to any EU member state, on the surface its basically a giant gas discount for being an EU member but on a deeper note, its each country in the EU essentially giving up their energy bargaining rights at least from foreign suppliers. Its a bold strategy but will Russia even recognize it, after all this puts the EU in control over Russia's largest export to its largest customers, now they have to directly engage with the EU instead of its member states
[QUOTE=Sableye;47359132]Wow, if this is adopted it literally would give the EU power to shutoff the power to any EU member state, on the surface its basically a giant gas discount for being an EU member but on a deeper note, its each country in the EU essentially giving up their energy bargaining rights at least from foreign suppliers.[/QUOTE] Every such move the EU makes is part of a slow, long process of making a Federal Europe. Once all the laws needed are in place and there's stuff like a single army, a single bank, and so on, making a Federal Europe will just be a formality.
[QUOTE=isreal?;47358337]How will this affect Germany? I know Merkel has a hard-on for the anti-nuclear crowd after her government essentially banished nuclear energy.[/QUOTE] I haven't read the full agreement, but in the article there is no mention or nuclear but there is a mention of renewables.
[QUOTE=Sableye;47359132]Wow, if this is adopted it literally would give the EU power to shutoff the power to any EU member state, on the surface its basically a giant gas discount for being an EU member but on a deeper note, its each country in the EU essentially giving up their energy bargaining rights at least from foreign suppliers. Its a bold strategy but will Russia even recognize it, after all this puts the EU in control over Russia's largest export to its largest customers, now they have to directly engage with the EU instead of its member states[/QUOTE] Eh, not shut off power completely, but if the links between countries went down it'd probably cause brown outs in places that import energy from other places. I think the main reasons behind this idea is collective bargaining power against Russia, and member states being able to easily sell energy to each other, it could be much better financially and ecologically to have fewer, more advanced powerplants in the EU serving energy needs across borders.
Sounds like a pretty good plan, especially with the rise of renewables, sometimes they generate power when we don't need it and sometimes we need it when they aren't generating any energy so this just seems like a good idea.
[QUOTE=Canuhearme?;47358316]Not really, it's less "we'll help Ukraine" and more "Russia's being a big meanie so we don't wanna play with them anymore."[/QUOTE] To be fair, it is also 'We want to rely less on the energy provided by countries with increasingly distant policies than ours'. This is more to do with what the EU was originally established for than its current near-federation status.
[QUOTE=isreal?;47358337]How will this affect Germany? I know Merkel has a hard-on for the anti-nuclear crowd after her government essentially banished nuclear energy.[/QUOTE] We're still exporting (a lot, afaik), even without the reactors. On the off-chance that this increases trading costs between countries it would help Germany. It's more likely it's going to help Germany through reduced transport costs though, so the electricity can be exported further without losing too much profit. The insufficient energy network seems to also be a major blocker for renewable energy sources in northern Germany, so it would definitely be easier to use those if the regions were better connected.
Hopefully we can make the EU a self sustaining in time.
Wasn't there already some kind of energy trade between EU countries?
[QUOTE=_Axel;47363751]Wasn't there already some kind of energy trade between EU countries?[/QUOTE] Yeah, as a example: Denmark sells excessive electricity generated by windmills to Norway, who uses it to fill reservoirs up in the mountains with water. When there's a sudden demand for power, then Norway opens up for the reservoirs which then powers turbines in a hydro-dam like fashion. But it's still only isolated cases and agreements between each individual country. This deal will make trading with energy in various shape and form much easier.
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