The EU energy union: more than the sum of its parts?

The EU Energy Union is a concept whose time has come. Yet there is little consensus as to what it should contain. The Commission has listed all the current measures and added a layer of governance. Yet the key to success is to focus not on what is currently being done on a piecemeal basis but on the core infrastructure of the European market – the network systems of electricity and transmission. •The integration of these networks has multiple pay-offs to the European economy. Integrating networks increases Europe’s security of supply and reduces the pressure of those countries exposed to Russia’s aggressive threats to gas supplies; reduces the costs of meeting the capacity requirements in each member-state; and brings competition to the heart of the dominant national incumbents and hence helps to harmonise prices. This paper proposes three steps to the development of the EU Energy Union: that the Commission undertake an assessment of the prize that integration will bring; that it should map out the networks at the European level; and gradually move towards a European system operator.

ESO: Key source: Energy Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/energy-union/

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