A Glimpse Over the Agenda of the Spanish Presidency of the EU: Limited Indirect Effects on Energy Policy

The Agenda presented by the Spanish presidency of the EU that started on 1 January 2010 is meant to be part of a joint programme framed together with the two following presidencies, i.e. Belgium and Hungary.

The Spanish government defined four priorities for its Presidency:

1. the full and effective application of the Lisbon Treaty;
2. the guarantee of the economic recovery of Europe through greater co-ordination of every member state and the approval of the European strategy for sustainable growth for 2020;
3. the reinforcement of the presence and influence of the EU in the new world order;
4. the focus to be put on European citizens, their rights and freedoms, as they should be "at the centre of EU policy".

This means that priority is not directly given to energy policy. If this policital agenda may affect energy policy, that will be indirectly, through in particular: the focus on European citizens rights; the European strategy for sustainable growth and the incentives towards a "green economy"; the adoption of a European Innovation Plan; the development of the European External Action Service and a series of ambitious bilateral and regional negotiations.

Climate change is identified in the Agenda as a common challenge but the main action of the Spanish presidency will be to "work to make sure that any agreement reached in Copenhagen comes to fruition as soon as possible in a global treaty..." This also means that the European Commission and its services will be the main actor of the energy policy in the months to come, both in terms of initiatives, follow-up of climate/energy and liberalisation packages and control of implementation by Member States.

Document: Political Programme - The Spanish Presidency 2010 (PDF document).