Oettinger : Energy unity needed

Individual EU members are unlikely to yield authority on broader energy policies to Brussels, an insider said. Gunter Oettinger, the energy commissioner for the European Union, said member states weren't as committed to a unified energy market as much as they should be. "At the moment, it's a matter for member states but it should, I believe, fall into the hands of the Parliament and Council," he told European leaders. Oettinger has called on member states to coordinate political capital with the aim of setting bloc-wide energy policies by 2014. An insider in the renewable energy sector, however, told news agency EurActiv that national leaders weren't likely to give up authority over national security issues like energy policy. "The member states are not going to give up decision-making on energy mix," the source said. The EU in 2011 outlined a road map that calls for the "decarbonizing" the regional economy by 2050. Oettinger told the European Parliament this week, however, that national projects were moving ahead of bloc-wide ambitions. "Actions by a few member states are far from enough," he said.