Joint debate on Energy, during the EP plenary session (22 - 23 June 2016) in Brussels. Statements by Paloma L&Oacute;PEZ BERMEJO (GUE/NGL, ES), rapporteur, Markus PIEPER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Miguel ARIAS CA&Ntilde;ETE, Member of the EC in charge of Climate Action and Energy, Peter LIESE (EPP, DE), Miroslav POCHE (S&amp;D, CZ), Anneleen VAN BOSSUYT (ECR, BE), Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL) and&nbsp;Xabier BENITO ZILUAGA (GUE/NGL, ES).

Brussels

VAN BOSSUYT, Anneleen (ECR, BE)

LÓPEZ BERMEJO, Paloma (GUE/NGL, ES)

GERBRANDY, Gerben-Jan (ALDE, NL)

energy union (T)

ARIAS CAÑETE, Miguel (EPP, ES, EC)

joint debate

LIESE, Peter (EPP, DE)

BENITO ZILUAGA, Xabier (GUE/NGL, ES)

PIEPER, Markus (EPP, DE)

POCHE, Miroslav (S&D, CZ)

Joint debate on Energy: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Paloma L&#211;PEZ BERMEJO (GUE/NGL, ES), Rapporteur, Parliament needs to help the Commission evaluate what should happen to those states who don't manage to change their policies and develop renewable energies into their mix for 2020. But also it can be used to prepare the proposal for a new renewable directive which will run until 2030 which will keep in the binding goals, and will indeed strengthen them so that the attempts to battle climate change in COP 21 are pursued.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Paloma L&#211;PEZ BERMEJO (GUE/NGL, ES), rapporteur, We need to make sure, secondly, that generation mechanisms which will promote democratic oversight of the energy against the big oligopolies are brought in, so we need to back the right to self-consumption and strengthen the public planning and public participation in renewables development.

SOUNDBITE (German), Markus PIEPER (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, With 25% less emissions of harmful substances we've increased our GDP by 50%, now if that is not an efficient performance, I don't know what is. If we were to be compelled to reduce consumption by 40%, I think that would be extremely counter-productive. therefore I would appeal to my colleagues in the socialist group and in the liberals group, please support our amendments whereby we are seeking to reduce energy consumption by 40%, seeking to but not making it compulsory.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Miguel ARIAS CA&#209;ETE, Member of the EC in charge of Climate Action and Energy, We are preparing as I said a revision for the Directive on Energy Efficiency and the one on Energy efficiency for buildings. The goal is to set out goals for 2030 and show that we have in place the framework and measures to achieve these goals, and make certain that in buildings in particular we 're giving priority to those sectors which have the best chances to save energy.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Miguel ARIAS CA&#209;ETE, Member of the EC in charge of Climate Action and Energy, Let me also say that Europe needs an explicit goal for 2030 which needs to be integrated into our legislation, it'll be important when we want to send a positive signal to investors and legislators, and to unlock long-term investments which we'll need to reach our goals.

SOUNDBITE (German), Peter LIESE (EPP, DE), ENVI, I think 40%, I did once support that objective, but no longer feel it is realistic, but the EPP is calling for at least 30%.

SOUNDBITE (Czech), Miroslav POCHE (S&amp;D, CZ), First of all, it is the binding 40% goal for energy efficiency. I am convinced that the parliament should repeatedly and clearly support this requirement, because if we track back on that we basically say no to our independence on fossil fuel imports.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Anneleen VAN BOSSUYT (ECR, BE), On renewable energies; the parliament I feel should not put forward objectives which are undoable, unrealistic. We have to be ambitious but we have to remain realistic. The binding national objectives that the rapporteur has proposed for renewable energies are not realistic.

SOUNDBITE (Dutch), Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL), The main focus is to get clean, to get cheap and renewable energy is by focusing on renewables. The last thing that we need here is conservatism. We need a much stronger European focus with ambitious binding targets.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Xabier BENITO ZILUAGA (GUE/NGL, ES), It is necessary for energy efficiency to be binding, commitment for all Member States, and that means that we need a directive on renewables which will make it possible for us to establish a stable market for renewable energies.