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EXCLUSIVE:The European Unions flagship energy project will prop up a rogues gallery of authoritarian governments responsible for a string of human rights abuses, while not improving gas supply security, civil societyorganisations have warned.

Turkey, Algeria, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and other potential suppliers in the Middle East and Africa were named in yesterdays (25 February) Commission communication on Energy Union. EurActiv understands that Iran and Iraq is also part of the Commissions long-term thinking, as it searches for alternative suppliers of gas to Russia.

The security situation in many of the countries, due to terrorist groups like ISIS and war in statessuch asIraq and Libya, was so unreliable that it made a mockery of the idea they could deliver stable supplies, campaigners said.

Speaking exclusively to EurActiv, Maro efovi, the Commission Vice-President for Energy Union, denied new supply contracts would entrench dictatorships. He argued that a gradual approach to negotiations would yield progress on human rights.

By cooperating with such countries and not simultaneously and publicly condemning their human rights' violations, the EU is essentially giving the green light for abuses to continue, Iverna McGowan, of Amnesty International, said.

Plans for the Energy Union, the EUs response to its dependence on energy imports, especially Russian gas, were launched yesterday (25 February) in Brussels.The paper highlighted the need to increase the number of energy suppliers, to prevent shortages such as those caused in the EU by Russia turning off the taps in 2009.

>>Read: Will EU states play ball on Energy Union?

The EU will use all its foreign policy instruments to establish strategic energy partnerships with increasingly important producing and transit countries or regions, the Energy Union paper read.

Asked why doing business with anti-democratic countries was better than doing business with Russia, Energy and Climate Action Commissioner MiguelAriasCaete stressed the EU would still buy Russian gas.

Russia will continue to be a partner of European Union and will continue to be a big supplier of the European Union," he told reporters at a press conference.

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Energy Union a green light for human rights abusers, warn NGOs

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) The European Union's executive has unveiled a vast plan to boost coordination between the EU's 28 national energy markets to wean Europe off unstable Russian gas supplies and provide cheaper energy for consumers.

European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic on Wednesday called it "undoubtedly the most ambitious energy project" since the inception of the EU over half a century ago. He believes that improving links across borders in Europe's energy grid could save businesses and consumers up to 40 billion (45.4 billion) a year.

A more energy-independent Europe will also increase the EU's political options in eastern Europe.

Europe imports 40 per cent of its natural gas from Russia, half via pipelines through conflict-torn Ukraine, and it could to take years of investment to reduce that dependency. Ukraine and Russian energy monopoly Gazprom have been embroiled in numerous gas price wars, which have hit supplies in Europe over the past years.

"Our dependence on external energy resources has affected our ability to conduct an independent foreign policy," warned the leader of the European Parliament's liberal ALDE group, Guy Verhofstadt.

He said that an ambitious energy project will create jobs, tackle climate change and hit Russian President Vladimir "Putin where it hurts most."

Sefcovic said the EU would work closely with neighbours like Algeria, Turkey and Norway to help diversify sources of supply.

Environmental groups were quick to criticise the plan, saying it focuses too much on Russia and fossil fuels rather than renewable energy sources.

"We keep hearing repetitions of gas, gas, gas," said Brook Riley from Friends of the Earth Europe. "The EU risks throwing hundreds of billions of euro into pipelines that it will have to decommission almost as soon as they come online because they contribute to climate change."

The proposals will form the basis for future legislation. As a first step, EU environment ministers will debate them on March 6.

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European Union unveils mega energy plan

The European Union (EU) has invited African countries for a high level conference in Brussels to review current efforts of fighting Ebola and place a plan to help Liberia and the other African countries to recover from the hit of the disease.

An emailed EU statement reaching Xinhua on Thursday said the presidents and ministers of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Togo as well as representatives of the African Union Commission, the UN, the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and the European Union will all be attending at the very highest level.

Liberias President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf will co-chair the conference on Ebola and she will be speaking as spokesperson for the Mano River Union (MRU).

During this High Level Conference, the 11th European Development Fund National Indicative Program for Liberia 2014-2020 will be signed between Liberia and the EU.

This is the most important support program of the EU to Liberia for the coming years, the statement said.

This Fund is allocating 326 million U.S. dollars to Liberia, which will be divided into the four areas including good governance, energy, education and agriculture.

The EU Ambassador to Liberia, Tiina Intelmann, said For us it is crucial to assess the priorities and envisaged action presented by Liberia and to find a way that we can all work together, in the immediate and longer term, for recovery in Liberia and in West Africa.

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EU, African countries to convene on Ebola recovery

BRUSSELS: EU policymakers on Wednesday unveiled plans to ensure the free flow of gas and power to every corner of the 28-member bloc, hailing it as the biggest energy shake-up for more than half a century.

Since the establishment in 1951 of the Coal and Steel Community, the precursor of the European Union, advocates of transnational unity have demanded closer cooperation on energy.

The European Commission, the EU executive, says the clash with Russia over its seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region means there is the strongest case yet to pool resources across the EU, which relies on Moscow for around a third of its energy.

But national governments have always jealously guarded their own control over energy decisions, largely because of strategic needs and their stance on the environment.

"It's the biggest energy project since the Coal and Steel Community," Maros Sefcovic, European Commission vice president responsible for energy union, said. "It's a very deep energy transition."

Europe's energy union strategy includes a raft of measures and will be followed by legislative proposals.

It aims to improve infrastructure to share available supplies across borders, partly with EU money; to end regulated pricing, increase the number of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and enforce existing EU law on competition.

The Commission is also calling on member states and companies to consult it when negotiating with big suppliers, such as Russia, in an attempt to end Moscow's strategy of divide and rule that has allowed some countries to secure more favourable deals than others.

Previous attempts to persuade firms or nations to divulge information to the Commission have met stiff resistance, but Sefcovic said he was convinced member states could be persuaded of the mutual benefit in the current geopolitical context.

Russia's conflict with Ukraine has been complicated by a row over gas pricing, which last year led Russian producer Gazprom to cut off supplies to Kiev.

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EU energy union could save 40 billion euros per year: Commission

This year the European Union is in unprecedented ferment over energy issues. Little more than a decade ago, energy was an afterthought for EU policymakers. But the twin concerns of energy security and climate change have alteredthis thinking.

Increased tension with Russia, Europes largest energy supplier, has come as Europes domestic energy reserves are dwindling. The voices calling for a real, robust energy union have grown louder. But these voices are working with a significant subsidiarity handicap: the EU treaties make clear that energy choices are a national issue.

It was in this context that the European Commission adopted its keenly-awaited strategy on energy union yesterday (25 February). Maro efcovic, the European Commission vice-president for energy union, called it the most ambitious energy project since the European Coal and Steel Community.

Many were calling for bold action. Two ideas in particular were floated which, while controversial, could represent a significant challenge to Vladimir Putins attempts to weaponise energy policy: strict energy governance, and common gas purchasing.

There have been calls notably from the ALDE group of liberals for a system of energy governance modelled on the economic semester. This, it is claimed, would prevent member states taking national decisions to the detriment of the EU energy system as a whole such as Viktor Orbns special energy deals with Putin or Angela Merkels sudden decisions to scrap nuclear energy or abruptly change subsidies for renewables. The Commission has been trying to do this without changing the EUs treaties, and will undertake an annual state of the energy union review, starting this year.

Politicians, stakeholders and environmentalists responded to today's energy union strategy positively but with a degree of scepticism about its real impact.

Experts say specifics in today's package could undermine the EU's 2030 emissions reduction commitment by at least 5%.

Member states can make their own choices, but they also have to comply with the climate and energy policy objectives, said Miguel Arias Caete, the European commissioner for climate action and energy. We will make sure we have the provisions established by the Commission in order to make governance very efficient. Monitoring, reporting and verification of the annual planning of the member states will be very closely monitored by the Commission, and we will propose, as in the European semester, the recommendations needed to fulfill the objectives.

Another suggestion for strengthening Europes energy hand came from Poland common gas purchasing with third countries. efcovic is thought to support this idea, but in the face of flat rejection from Western Europe and threats from Norway, the Commission has relegated it to a mere suggestion for a study.

Conventional wisdom says this is merely cosmetic, and that Western Europes steadfast objection means such a proposal for common gas purchasing will never see the light of day. However, efcovic gave hope to Warsaw during his press conference yesterday when he said we believe it will be possible to propose such a mechanism on a voluntary basis. The East-West division came clearly into focus when Arias Caete jumped in to dampen down expectations, stating that such an arrangement would be impossible without many, many conditions.

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Modest measures for promoting EU energy union