Results of Energy Council meeting of 7 May 1996 The Council of Energy Ministers of the European Union met in Brussels on 7 May 1996. With an agenda covering almost a dozen topics, the Council was able to make progress on several of these. Politically, the most sensitive subject was the proposed Directive on an internal mar... The Council of Energy Ministers of the European Union met in Brussels on 7 May 1996. With an agenda covering almost a dozen topics, the Council was able to make progress on several of these. Politically, the most sensitive subject was the proposed Directive on an internal market in the electricity sector, on which the Council is now close to reaching political agreement. Ministers agreed to hold an extraordinary Council meeting just before the European Council in Florence on 21 June 1996, where the final decisions on a common position should be attained. The Council adopted a resolution on the Commission's recent White Paper on "An energy policy for the European Union". The resolution calls for the common energy objectives to be implemented at Community level, using all the instruments available in the Treaties, and calls on the Commission to present proposals for the attainment of these objectives. The Council also calls for the promotion of new and renewable energies, greater energy efficiency, an improvement in the functioning of the internal energy market, and greater consistency in the environmental aspects of energy policy. Regarding cooperation with third countries, the Council reaffirmed its commitment to the ratification of the European Energy Charter Treaty, with Member States expected to ratify the treaty by autumn 1996. The European Energy Charter is intended to provide a secure legal framework for long-term cooperation between Eastern and Western Europe in the field of energy. The Council also adopted conclusions on energy cooperation with Mediterranean countries. These conclusions, which will serve as the EU's position at the Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Energy Ministers in Trieste on 7-9 June 1996, call for the conference to provide a greater impetus to Euro-Mediterranean cooperation in energy. In particular, the Council calls for debate on the following themes: participation in the European Energy Charter; implementation of projects of common interest in the field of trans-European energy networks; and the definition of priority projects in the energy sector. The Council approved the text agreed in Conciliation Committee on 27 March 1996 regarding the trans-European energy networks, and the only remaining stage before this Directive is adopted is Parliament's approval.
