MEPs plot Eurobond issue to switch EU away from oil

By Martin Banks

Date: 28/07/05

MEMBERS of the European Parliament are to argue for Eurobonds to be offered to the public to help fund a rapid switch of European energy production from oil and fossil fuels to hydrogen and renewable energy.

In a campaign to be launched by MEPs after the summer recess, they will argue that with demand and prices for oil continuing to escalate, hydrogen technology could offer a swift way out of the problem.

"With a relatively small financial effort, shared among European citizens, it would be possible for Europe to decrease its dependence on oil within the next two to three years and reach total freedom from oil in the next ten years," said Vittorio Prodi, an Italian Liberal MEP and a member of the European Parliament's green hydrogen group.

The group will claim that 20% of the cars on Europe's roads could be run by hydrogen within ten years and half of the Continent's electricity supplies could come from renewable energy sources by the end of the decade.

The International Energy Agency has estimated that the world will need almost 60% more energy in 2030 than in 2002. The MEPs will argue that hydrogen generated from renewable sources can make a "significant" contribution to cleaner energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The cross-party group, which in addition to Prodi also includes Claude Turmes, a Luxembourger from the Greens/EFA group, Jo Leinen, a German Socialist, Umberto Guidoni, a former NASA astronaut and an Italian member of the European United Left group, and Philippe Busquin, a Belgian Socialist MEP and former European Commissioner for research, will join forces with the American economist Jeremy Rifkin to launch the campaign on 12 September.

Prodi, the brother of former European Commission president, Romano Prodi, said that the exact details of the proposed scheme had yet to be thrashed out but he believed a bond offer could be one way of funding the conversion of Europe's energy production.

He said that investing in bonds would also be a way for Europe's leadership to become closer to its citizens, an objective deemed particularly important in the wake of the stalled European constitution.

"This could be a great project, able to mobilise people like the introduction of the single currency.

"Europeans are concerned about unsustainable oil prices and also the cost in terms of the environment, health and stability," he said.

"Investment in a Eurobond, or whatever name is given, would attract people because we believe it makes economic sense. But people could also be attracted for its ethical value, creating, as it would, mass involvement in a project that addresses one of the main concerns facing the EU: finding a more sustainable energy regime."

Apart from investors, the main beneficiary of such a scheme would be increased investment in hydrogen technology, he said.

"Renewable energy technologies are available and Europe is a world leader but more research is necessary so that they are cheaper and more effective."

Turmes said hydrogen, particularly for the transport sector, should be introduced at a "much faster and wider rate" than the goals set by the 2001 renewable energies directive.

He said it was time to "realise the potential" of hydrogen, adding: "The main aim of this initiative is to push 'green' hydrogen innovation further on to the political agenda."

A spokesperson for energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the Commission was "fully committed" to developing a sustainable energy mix, of which hydrogen was a "very promising and exciting" element.

The spokesperson said: "In the last decade or so, the necessity of ensuring a reliable and safe energy supply has become a matter of strategic importance for Europe, which is heavily dependent on imported energy which leaves Europe vulnerable.

"There is also the environmental impact of fossil fuels to consider. The transition to a hydrogen economy is therefore a key plank of the EU's long-term energy policy for a range of uses, ranging from electricity generation to transport."

Article reports on a campaign Members of the European Parliament were planning for after the summer break 2005. MEPs were to argue for Eurobonds to be offered to the public to help fund a rapid switch of European energy production from oil and fossil fuels to hydrogen and renewable energy.