A Community action plan on renewable sources of energy

The committee adopted the report by Peter Michael MOMBAUR. The RTDE underlined the advantages of renewable sources of energy and stressed that 50% of the world's population still has no access to energy networks. The committee was of the opinion that the EU should immediately adopt an action plan for the use of renewable energies and called on the Commission to present a proposal for concrete actions to be implemented by the EU and by the Member States, the aim being to increase the proportion of renewable sources of energy in the overall primary energy range to 15% by the year 2010. To achieve this, the Community and the Member States must create the necessary political, legal and economic framework conditions to make renewable energies competitive. The RTDE also called on the Commission to ensure coordination between Community energy programmes and between these and actions at national and regional level. The Commission should implement a system for the collection and dissemination of all information relating to renewable sources of energy. The committee also demanded that budget allocations for actions intended to promote renewable sources of energy be at least equal to those earmarked for promoting nuclear fusion, i.e. at least ECU 840 million by 1998. In order to promote the consumption of renewable sources of energy, the RTDE felt that external costs should be incorporated in energy prices and that tax incentives should be provided. Finally, the RTDE also demanded that account be taken of the use of renewable sources of energy in EU policy vis-à-vis Mediterranean countries and the CEECs.�