ALDE MEP Fiona Hall (UK, Liberal Democrats), who took part in the negotiations with Member States on the Energy Efficiency Directive on behalf of the Liberals and Democrats, has welcomed the deal brokered last night. Commenting on the deal, she said:

"Although the text in Article 6 on the energy efficiency obligation schemes is not as strong as the Parliament wanted, it is an important achievement that for the first time ever Member States will have to have a long term strategy with policy and measures in place for dealing with the energy efficiency of their buildings.

"In addition, the Parliament secured an early review of the deal in 2016 including of the exemptions that currently weaken Article 6.

"Thanks to the changes insisted upon by the Parliament, the directive will now achieve 17% of the 20% energy efficiency savings needed by 2020 - as compared to less than 15% before last night.

"We now look forward to COREPER ratifying this deal today." 

Ends

Note to editors:

The deal is subject to approval by the Council and the Parliament.

COREPER will vote on the deal tonight (14 June).

The Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) is scheduled to vote on the deal on in July before it will be put to Parliament's plenary in September.

Article 6 of the Energy Efficiency and Repealing Directive deals with national energy efficiency obligation schemes.

The proposed Directive aimed at establishing a framework for promoting energy efficiency to ensure that the Union meets its target of 20% primary energy savings by 2020. The proposal included an obligation for Member States to lay down national energy efficiency targets for 2020 and a set of measures for end-users on the one hand and the energy supply sector on the other.

It contained among others the following elements:
• requirements for public sector as regards renovation of existing buildings;
• application of energy efficiency standards for purchasing buildings, services and products;
• obligation to establish national energy efficiency obligation schemes (regular mandatory energy audits for large companies, requirements for metering and billing of energy);
• requirements for Member States to adopt national heating and cooling plans (including coherence with spatial planning);
• obligation to set up an inventory of energy efficiency data for installations combusting or refining fuels.