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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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than the one originally proposed) was finally
adopted at the end of 2015 (European
Commission, 2015). This plan calls for:
– The recycling of 65 % of municipal waste by
2030.
– The recycling of 75 % of packaging waste by
2030.
– A binding landfill target to reduce landfill to
a maximum of 10 % of all waste by 2030.
– Additional measures that promote green
product design, a comprehensive strategy
for plastics intended to lower waste in gen-
eral and marine litter in particular, the sym-
biotic use of industrial by-products and har-
monised calculation methods for recycling
rates throughout the EU.
As in the case of other issues, no new legis-
lative packet related to air quality has been
adopted to date.
The new EU energy strategy
The Juncker Commission centred the greater
part of its environmental policy efforts on the
framework for climate and energy for the peri-
od 2020-2030 approved by the European
Council in November 2014.
In February 2015, the new Commission an-
nounced a new EU framework strategy for en-
ergy, the goal of which was “to give EU con-
sumers –households and businesses– secure,
sustainable, competitive and affordable ener-
gy”. This strategy, which seeks to remove barri-
ers that impede the free flow of energy supplies
throughout the European Union, contains
measures that promote the centralisation of en-
ergy management.
The Energy Union strategy has five mutually
reinforcing and closely related dimensions:
– Energy security.
– A fully integrated internal energy market.
– Energy efficiency.
– Decarbonising the economy.
– Research, innovation and competitiveness.
A few months later, in June 2015, the
Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
Council reaffirmed the Council’s plans for trans-
forming the EU’s energy strategy, especially its
emphasis on achieving the minimum target of
10 % electricity interconnection for Member
States that have not yet attained a minimal level
of integration in the internal energy market.
Spain, for example, currently ranks among the
EU’s most laggard states in this regard with an
interconnection rate if only 3 %. Other actions
supported by the TTE Council included the im-
plementation of new technologies, measures
intended to improve energy efficiency, infra-
structure projects related to the supply of gas
and electricity and the promotion of renewable
energies.
The EU Energy Union Strategy fits into a new
geostrategic objective of relying less on Russia,
which traditionally has been the Union’s chief
supplier of gas. The necessity of taking this
route was made clear by moves on the part of
Russia in 2006 to suspend supplies to certain EU
Member States. It is to remediate this problem
that the EU energy strategy contemplates in-
vesting millions of euros to guarantee uninter-
rupted supply throughout its territory. It is esti-
mated that
€
100 billion per year will be invested
in energy efficiency alone. A budget of
€
5.3
billion has been allocated for trans-European
energy infrastructure to be created between
2014 and 2020, which is to be financed by
means of user tariffs. These include 108 electric-
ity, 77 gas, 7 oil and 3 smart grid “projects of
common interest” (European Commission,
2015), some of which are mega-infrastructures
supporting gas connections between countries: