4 Complicating the matter is an argument over the security of energy supply in Europe. Much has been made of the risk for western Europe of depending too heavily on Russian exports of gas. Russia under Vladimir Putin is prone to using energy exports as a blunt tool of foreign policy, especially when trying to bully countries in its hinterland. Last year Russia interrupted gas deliveries to Ukraine, affecting supplies in central and western Europe too. This week it blocked oil exports passing via Belarus to Europe, though that spat was soon resolved.
5 The risk is that concerns about security of supply may be used spuriously by those in Europe who oppose the sort of liberalisation encouraged by Ms Kroes. The likes of E.ON and EDF may claim that only protected national champions are able to secure supply, by striking long-term deals with powerful foreign suppliers. The Commission disagrees. Such deals are too often politically motivated and far from transparent. Protection has been tried for long enough and evidently has not worked for the internal market, nor have these companies secured the best deals for consumers from the Russians.
6 In contrast, the Commissions new policy proposes, ideally, a break-up of these companies into suppliers and distributors. (As a second best solution, especially for France and Germany, it recommends the management of the networks by a third party.) Properly independent managers of Europes energy networks would have a strong incentive to build interconnecting pipelines and power lines across borders. For the gas market another means of ensuring competition and security would be finding a more diverse range of suppliers, for example by building more terminals for the import of liquified natural gas. It would also be likely to mean lower prices, if the example of liberalised Britain over the past ten years is anything to go by.
【雅思阅读练习:Seeking an energy holy trinity】相关文章:
★ 雅思阅读七个要点
★ 雅思阅读:必杀技
最新
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26
2016-02-26