10 Electricity CEOs Make Joint Call for a Better EU Energy Policy

News Article

On 11 October, 10 European electricity CEOs, representing half of European power generation capacity, came together in Brussels to urge for a reform of European energy policy.[1]

Warning that the current EU energy policy was not delivering, they spoke out in favour of a new approach that would reverse today's trends of higher bills, less security of supply and rising CO2 emissions.

Key steps for policymakers should include integrating mature renewables into the market and abandoning subsidies, using existing competitive capacity as a matter of priority instead of subsidising new constructions, and fundamentally strengthening the EU carbon market to have the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as the key driver of Europe's climate policy.

EURELECTRIC shares the concerns raised and welcomes actions taken to make sure that the valid concerns of the European electricity industry are heard by policymakers in Brussels and national capitals alike. We also strongly believe in the value of going one step further and providing constructive suggestions for the way forward. We therefore welcome this initiative, which - while not a EURELECTRIC initiative - is closely aligned with most of our own positions.



[1] The 10 signatories include the CEOs of GDF Suez, E.ON and RWE, Spain's Iberdrola and Gas Natural, Italy's Enel and Eni, Sweden's Vattenfall, Czech utility CEZ, and GasTerra from the Netherlands.