EP wil niet weten van olievoorraad voor 120 dagen

• 2003-09-23

Vandaag stemde het EP tegen een voorstel van de Commissie om de verplichte olievoorraden op te drijven van 90 naar 120 dagen. De Europese Groenen stemden mee met de meerderheid.

Security of energy supplies: rejection is a slap in the face for de Palacio

The European Parliament today strongly rejected a plan to increase mandatory EU oil stocks from a level of 90 days of consumption to 120 days. Had the Karlsson Report on the stocks of crude oil and petroleum products been approved by MEPs in Strasbourg, Member States would have had to complete the increase by 1 January 2007. The Report would have additionally given discretionary co-ordination powers to the European Commission for the management of the oil stocks.
The proposal was an initiative of Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, and a large majority (60%) of MEPs rejected it outright, obliging the Commission to withdraw its draft.

Claude Turmes MEP (Déi Gréng – LUX), Vice-President of the Green/EFA Group and shadow Rapporteur on the Karlsson and Mombaur reports on energy supplies, said:

"Commissioner de Palacio's proposal has been strongly opposed on account of its high costs to both Member States and the environment. The proposal would have had little effect on stabilising oil prices. To really influence world market prices in the short term, it is more important to convince India and China to adopt a 60 day oil stock than to increase existing European stocks."

"Two years ago during the discussions on security of energy supply, a vast majority of stakeholders and Member States had already said 'No' to the idea of raising oil stocks. Unfortunately Commissioner de Palacio does not seem to be a very good listener. Instead of producing serious proposals to tackle energy services and energy demand – proposals the Green/EFA Group have been demanding for years – she has continued to promote an inadequate and misguided energy supply policy, which would like Europe to become even more dependent on nuclear and fossil fuels. This time we were not isolated, and in our strong rejection the entire Parliament today gave Commissioner de Palacio a slap in the face. This is a major rebuff for her."