Sefcovic: We'd Like to Submit 'Jumbo Package' by End of 2016

Bratislava, November 15 (TASR) – We’d like to submit a big package consisting of three groups of legislative proposals – the so-called Jumbo Package – by the end of this year, said European Commission Vice-president for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic at the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) in Bratislava on Tuesday.

“One [of them] is focused on enhancing the energy efficiency of buildings and a new financial instrument to go with it. The working title of the instrument is ‘intelligent financing for intelligent buildings’,” explained Sefcovic.

The second one concerns ecological design and allows for reductions in the energy intensity of electric appliances. The last subpackage is related to measures connected to a new design of the European market with electricity and to the new directive on renewable resources.

“We’d like to advise individual countries to begin working on national energy and climate plans in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and the legislative framework proposed by the European Commission,” stated Sefcovic.

“I firmly believe that we will succeed in presenting 90 percent of what we’ve promised by the end of the year,” said Sefcovic, adding that so far they have submitted proposals concerning a reform of the trade in emission permits, a proposal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in sectors such transport, agriculture and via the energy efficiency of buildings.

Sefcovic thinks we can really be appreciative that the Paris Climate Agreement has come into force, especially considering that its big opponent Donald Trump was elected the new US president. “We’ve all agreed in Paris that we, or rather our children and grandchildren, will live in a carbon-neutral economy after 2050. That means that we will be able to neutralise as many emissions as we produce,” said Sefcovic.