New EU Strategies

The European Union (EU) directive on electricity markes will probably be formally approved at the EU Energy Ministers' Council on December 3 of this year. It is currently the subject of a hearing in the EU Parliament, to which NGOs, including EUROSOLAR and the INFORSE member APERE, have given some input. One of the NGO proposals suggests more favorable conditions for renewable energy producers who can feed electricity into the grid.

Following the EU Commission's White Paper on Energy, the Commission is developing a new strategy for renewable energy to replace the current ALTENER programme, which ends by the end of 1997.

A new set of guidelines for the Trans-European Energy-Networks (TENs) is being drafted. The new list of proposals will probably include a project for developing the natural gas connections between Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, and the Baltic States.