EU endorses €4 billion energy projects

These projects form the backbone of a €5 billion economic recovery plan and, although much of funding will be allocated to improve gas and electricity interconnections (€2.37 billion) including €200 million for the Nabucco gas pipeline, a further €565 million has been allocated to offshore wind farms and €1 billion to setting up carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration plants.

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) welcomed the news and its Chief Executive Christian Kjaer declared that, "By including offshore wind and electricity grids in the plan, EU decision-makers have chosen the right areas to make a real difference long-term".

According to the European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the EU can now start the projects immediately, stating that they would make a real contribution to Europe's energy security. The first €2 billion of the money will be spent in 2010 and a further €1.98 billion in 2010. Aside from strengthening energy security, it is expected that the new infrastructure will improve cooperation between the 27 member states during energy crises and generate much needed construction jobs in the hardest-hit areas.

However, some NGOs have been critical of the €2.5 billion allocated to the oil and gas industries, which they said would neither create employment nor contribute to creating a sustainable energy mix in Europe. On the eve of the Parliament vote, Friends of the Earth Europe published a report showing that billions of EU taxpayers' money had already been funnelled into the fossil-fuel industry over the past five years and called on the EU to spend the money on renewables and energy efficiency improvements instead.