Trans-European energy networks: guidelines

Adopting the report by Mr Gordon ADAM (PSE, UK), Parliament approved at third reading the joint text for an EP/Council decision laying down a series of guidelines for trans-European energy networks. This conciliation procedure had not begun very auspiciously since the positions of the two institutions were rather far apart. The main difficulty lay in their differing views as to how the codecision procedure should be applied. Parliament and the Council recognized that it was necessary to identify projects of common interest by means of a sufficiently precise description. Should the list of projects be extended or shortened, Article 129 D would apply (European Parliament/Council codecision procedure). Furthermore, any amendment that altered the description of a project as it appeared in the Annex would be adopted under the codecision procedure. Parliament and Council agreed on a reformulated list of projects. The Commission was instructed to draw up and keep up to date the specifications which did not affect the trans-European dimension. These specifications did not appear in the Annex. The Commission would be assisted in this task by a committee (comitology procedure). The competent Commissioner had undertaken to come before Parliament and to defend his proposals if they gave rise to disagreement on the part of Parliament over procedure (application of the codecision procedure or application of comitology). The Council, for its part, undertook to consider developing the natural gas network in the Nordic countries (Nordic/Baltic gas networks) once those Member States had submitted fully developed projects. �