On Wednesday 8th June, a delegation of MEPs organised by the Climate Parliament met with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso. The Climate Parliament’s Chairman Sir Graham Watson (first on right) was accompanied by (from left) Vittorio Prodi and Maria da Graça Carvalho, as well as by Kathleen Van Brempt, and Jo Leinen, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee (not pictured). 

The delegation asked Mr. Barroso to press for a significant increase in EU investment in renewable energy in the Union’s next Multiannual Financial Framework, which sets the budget priorities until 2020. In keeping with the Climate Parliament's budget reform policy, the MEPs called for a smart funding strategy designed to deploy a modest volume of public funds to leverage the maximum possible investment from the private sector. They focussed on three key areas for investment: 

1. acceleration of research and development in the renewable energy sector, particularly through the Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan;

2. support for the construction of a European grid and large-scale renewable energy installations, through a combination of direct investments and innovative financial instruments such as project bond guarantees; 

3. increased support for renewable energy in less-industrialised countries through the EU’s development assistance budgets.

We have also met with, or are soon to see, the European Commissioners for Climate (Connie Hedegaard), Environment (Janez Potočnik), Competition (Joaquín Almunia), Regional Policy (Johannes Hahn), Economic Affairs (Olli Rehn), Research (Máire Geoghegan-Quinn) and others.  On June 16 President Barroso said in a speech that "there will be important commitments to renewable energy" in future EU budgets.  The Commission is clearly ready to increase its support for renewables.  What lies ahead now is 18 months of hard negotiations in the European Council with the Member States.

For further information on the Climate Parliament’s work on EU budget reform, please contact James Corre on james [at] climateparl.net