The EU and Climate Change

On Wednesday the European Commission removed legislation focused on country specific renewable energy targets after 2020. It was done to give countries "flexibility" on the percentage of total energy consumption coming from renewable sources, such as wind and solar. But the European Commission has left the overall EU target of 27 per cent renewable energy by 2030. This move by the European Commission is, in my opinion, reckless and unrealistic.

Many European countries are finding it difficult to switch to renewable energy sources even if they are cost effective, because they lack the finance to invest in large amounts of new energy infrastructure, but the specific long term targets forces states to switch to renewable energy sources. This move now allows member states to relax about renewable energy targets. Some EU members are already becoming lazy with complying with the Renewable Energy Directive; this is forcing the European Commission to take cases in the Court of Justice against countries who fail to commit to their energy targets, including Austria, Poland and Cyprus. The removal of the specific long term targets means many countries will remove their aims to eventually become energy efficient, and the EU has a whole will have a slim chance of reaching its 27 per cent target by 2030. This means we will be living in an unhealthy, polluted, fossil fuel dependent world for many years to come.Courtesy of interestingenergyfacts.blogspot.ie

European Union Expansion

In February of last year the EU set a three-month deadline for the Ukraine to strengthen its government democratically, to allow for the signing of an association agreement with the EU in November. This was to be the start of closer ties and relations between the Ukraine and the EU. The Ukrainian government failed to make the improvements to its electoral system and did not release the prominent opposition politicians Yuriy Lutsenko and Yulia Tymoshenko from prison, the Ukrainian government then put off the signing of the association agreement in November, which led to mass protests in Western Ukraine.

Courtesy of thischildrenhere.org

Russia then saw its chance to regain political influence over the Ukraine, and has announced its intention to buy 15 billion dollars worth of Ukrainian bonds and to sharply cut the price of natural gas to the Ukraine. This week the Ukrainian government has put in place two pieces of anti-democratic legislation, which outlaws the dying protests in Western Ukraine. In desperation the EU has offered 88 million euro in budget support funds this month, and at least the Ukraine failed to join the Russian Customs Union.

This turn of events was probably good news for people living in the EU, because it allows the organization to focus on economic problems at home, and to improve the lives of people already in the EU, instead of trying to take on board other European countries who are clearly not ready at this time to join the Union. EU officials will most likely take a fresh look at the Ukraine in 2015, after the general elections, and after the EU has thoroughly handled domestic economic problems such as Greece and Spain.

Ireland: Leaving the Bailout

Ireland left the bailout in December 2013. It was the first EU country to leave the bailout programme and what should have been an historical day really didn't amount to much. Few Irish people even knew what conditions Ireland was allowed to leave the bailout under, and this is what gave me inspiration to start this blog. It turns out Ireland is not becoming financially independent and stable. Ireland could only leave the bailout because the National Assets Management Agency had €20 billion in cash reserves and because the ECB reduced Irish interest rates. The German Development Bank KFW now has to give direct loans to small and medium sized Irish businesses, as the Irish banks are still unable to offer loans at realistic interest rates. The troika are still going to make twice yearly inspections of the Irish economy. This all means that the Irish banking crisis is far from over and it is unlikely that Ireland will reduce its dependency on the Troika in the near future.

Welcome to my Blog

Hello, my name is Andrew. I will be posting blogs on EU regulations and how they affect individual countries and their people.