President José Manuel Barroso

European Council

Deepening and reinforcing of economic policies in the euro area will strengthen our response to the crisis

At the final press conference President Barroso outlined the very important decisions taken to speed up Europe's return to economic growth and propserity, strongly inspired by the Commission. On energy and innovation he said that he is "pleased that the European Council has agreed on the four commitments that we put forward on energy policy. We need a truly integrated EU energy market by 2014. Europe also has to do more on energy efficiency. New technologies have a role to play here."

"A safe, sustainable and affordable energy supply is key to our strategic interests and growth and jobs"

At today's European Council, President Barroso will introduce the two main topics, energy and innovation (presentations will be available on this site). He will call for the Union to up its game and take decisive steps to deliver on our energy commitments. He will ask the European Council to endorse the priorities of the Commission's Energy 2020 and Energy Infrastructure Communications and will press for clear commitments to complete the internal energy market by 2014 and to put an end to energy islands by 2015.

In terms of infrastructure, President Barroso will push for the modernisation of networks and notably for better interconnections in Central and Eastern Europe. He will argue for a new impetus to our commitments on energy efficiency and to building a common EU external energy policy, which is vital for Europe's economic security. On innovation, President Barroso will push for Europe becoming the "natural home of innovation". He will call for strong backing from Member States for the Innovation Union as the key to post-crisis recovery.

Energy priorities for Europe, Presentation of J.M. Barroso, President of the European Commission to the European Council of 4 February 2011 pdf - 608 KB [608 KB]