§ Mr. YeoTo ask the President of the Board of Trade (1) what action she will take during the British presidency of the European Union in respect of the White Paper on Renewable Energy; [22287]
(2) what was the outcome of the meeting with European Union energy ministers on 8 December about the European Union White Paper on Renewable Energy. [22288]
§ Mr. Battle[holding answer 12 January 1998]: The Commission made a presentation of their White Paper to the Energy Council on December 8.
The theme of our current meeting will be energy and environment. During our Presidency we will initiate a detailed discussion of the White Paper and Action Plan with our partners to see what can realistically be done to promote the uptake of renewables throughout Europe. We intend to hold a debate on energy and the environment at the Energy council under our Presidency. This will address the role of renewables, and the Commission's White Paper, as a key item. Within the UK, we are 479W currently reviewing our policy on renewable energy including consideration of what would be necessary and practicable to achieve 10 per cent. of UK's electricity needs from renewables by 2010.