The Austrian Presidency of the EU will aim to reach agreement on two flagship pieces of legislation during its six-month stint at the EU helm – including new CO2 emissions standards for cars and vans for 2030 and a controversial reform of the electricity market.
The provisional agendas for EU Council meetings under the Austrian Presidency have now officially been published, reports OPP, a monitoring service for EU policy professionals.
Austria took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union from Bulgaria on 1 July. This means Vienna will chair all ministerial meetings at the EU level until Romania takes over on 1 January, according to Euractiv.com.
Among their favourites, OPP have singled out the provisional agendas for the Environment and Energy Council meetings, when EU ministers are expected to discuss – and possibly agree on – two key pieces of EU legislation.
The Environment Council on 9 October will address emission performance standards for new passenger cars and vans, on which the 28 EU ministers are expected to agree a “general approach” after a public deliberation where they will expose their views in front of the cameras.
The views of the minister representing Germany – and its powerful car industry – will come under particular scrutiny on that occasion. And so will France and Italy, the other two auto powerhouses of Europe.
Environment ministers will also aim to adopt Council conclusions on the preparations of the COP24 climate conference in Katowice, Poland, and on the Convention on Biological Diversity, OPP reported.
The Energy Council on 19 December promises to be newsworthy too, with a much-awaited public deliberation – and possible agreement – on new rules for the internal EU market in electricity.
While technical at first glance, the power market reform is considered a potential game-changer for the electricity sector, as the energy system prepares to take in ever-increasing amounts of renewable power coming from both large wind farms and a myriad of rooftop-mounted solar panels spread across the continent.
Austria is among the clean energy leaders in Europe. It has a target of 34% renewable energy by 2020 and aims for 100% self-sufficiency in energy by 2050.
More controversially, the power market reform will address the so-called “capacity mechanisms”, which govern how EU nations provide state aid to the power sector. These cover things like phase-out plans for coal in countries like Poland and support to nuclear in France and Belgium. Alongside the power market reform, EU ministers will debate a regulation for risk-preparedness in the electricity sector, new functioning rules for the European Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) and the European Commission’s proposed reform of the internal market in natural gas – a new set of rules designed to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.