Gas spurs faster reduction of CO2

“The EPP Group supports this very important list of energy infrastructure projects to make the European energy system more resilient and future-proof”, declared Christian Ehler MEP, the EPP Group Spokesman on the fifth list of the so-called Projects of Common Interest. "At the same time, we demand that the Maltese Government and the European Commission provide guarantees that no EU money will go directly or indirectly to criminals."

This morning, the Parliament's Committee on Industry, Energy and Research will decide on a list of key infrastructure projects which will make a crucial contribution to making Europe's energy system future and climate proof. The projects on the list will be eligible for fast-tracked permitting and authorisation procedures as well as for EU financing via the Connecting Europe Facility programme.

“The EPP Group sees gas as a bridging technology. To reduce Europe's CO2 emissions, Europe also needs gas. Not for ever and everywhere, but for a transitional period and in certain situations. Gas is the cleanest fossil energy source and gas infrastructure can be used in the future to transport clean hydrogen. By using gas, Europe can achieve CO2 reductions faster by moving away from, for example, coal without having to wait for fully carbon-free technologies to be widely available”, declared Ehler.

“Notwithstanding the importance of the list as a whole, the EPP Group has strong reservations about the Maltese gas pipeline project on the list. One of the shareholders of the project stands accused of conspiring to murder investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. We will support the list as a whole because the Parliament cannot object to an individual project. However, we demand that the EU Commission provides ironclad guarantees that no funds will go to criminals”, insisted Ehler.

During very recent and related negotiations with EU governments on the future on the Trans European Energy Infrastructure (TEN-E) guidelines, it was the EPP Group negotiator, Tom Berendsen MEP, who pushed successfully to refer to a legal safeguard blocking EU money from going into criminals’ pockets, in particular in the Malta pipeline case.