Energy: petroleum products, security of supply

The committee adopted the report by Hans KARLSSON (PES, S) amending the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure. MEPs objected strongly to the idea of giving discretionary power to the Commission to take emergency measures as required and rejected any harmonisation of national arrangements for managing stocks. They said that the Commission's task should chiefly be to coordinate the measures which may be taken by the Member States and verify the compatibility of these measures with Community law (i.e. preventing distortions of competition) and international obligations, in particular the agreements in force between Member States and the International Energy Agency (IEA) to ensure security of energy supplies. However, the measures recommended by the Commission should not be binding in nature. The committee was also opposed to the idea of increasing minimum oil stocks from 90 days of consumption to 120 days because of the cost. Lastly, MEPs called for the Commission to report annually to Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the directive, including an assessment of the cost of managing the stockholding system, and said that it should be reviewed as of 1 January 2010.�