Allister blasts EU Energy Policy
20 June 2006
Jim Allister MEP has accused the EU of trying to undermine British Sovereignty under the guise of energy policy.
“Worried about the increasing cost of energy and the security of supply the EU has proposed the creation of a single energy market which will control both energy reserves and distribution.
While it makes sense for stable states to interconnect to protect overall supply of electricity, and for power stations to be able to provide supply at competitive rates to other states (and profit by doing so). It does not make sense for states to pool their individual energy resources and reserves.
The resources of fuel reserves, both indigenous and imported, which an individual state can control is and must remain the responsibility of that state. The desire of the EU to control both fuel reserves and the energy produced will have a particular detrimental impact on the United Kingdom, which benefits from significant on going indigenous supplies of fuel.
The proposed Common Energy Policy will remove from the British Government the right to control these reserves. This must not be allowed to happen. It is one of the worst recent examples of European political expansionism.
Practically, the EU states have a poor record in delivery of internal competition. Without internal competition in member states it is inconceivable that the EU could contemplate extending its remit. Let the EU deliver a level playing field within member states, facilitating real competition, rather than seeking to extend its power over energy reserves.
A good place to start would be the Republic of Ireland, which is dominated by the ESB, and where the government is suppressing the findings of a report by Deloitte that outlines the anti competitive nature of that market.
