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SEPCo Document Library |
    
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- EU Institutions and Instruments
- Cooperation Between the EU and Latin America
- European Programmes
- German Funding Possibilities
1. EU Institutions and Instruments
The European Commission and the European Council have the legislative power in the European Union (EU): The European Council brings together the ministers of the member states per field of competence and is the major decision making body in the EU. The council lays down international agreements which are negotiated by the European Commission.
The European Commission is the executive power, which represents the EU policy and implements directives, i.e. is responsible for the implementation of the European policy. The European Commission has several services which have - bigger or smaller - competence in renewable energies and energy efficiency activities in Latin America:
service(s) responsible for/involved in relations between the EU and Latin America, respectively single Latin-American countries
service(s) responsible for/involved in renewable energies
service(s) responsible for/involved in development
The following services are the most important to be considered.
1.1. EU Services for External Relations - External Relations Family
Recently, the EU Services for External Relations - or the External Relations family - have fundamentally been restructured in order to reflect the European Commission's growing role in external relations and make it more effective. Today, four commissions are in charge of six external relations services:
The External Relations Directorate General coordinates the bilateral external activities of the Commission to the countries, which are not members of the EU, not part of the enlargement process, not African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) countries
The Directorate General for Trade is responsible for conducting the EU commercial policy (according to the objectives set in Article 133 of the Treaty)
The Enlargement Directorate General oversees the integration of the European continent by peaceful means, extending the zone of a stability and prosperity to new members
The Development Directorate General contributes to the formulation of the EU development cooperation and manages and coordinates the policy for all developing countries, the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) and the overseas countries and territories
Together, the External Relations Directorate General and the Development Directorate General head the EuropeAid Cooperation Office, which is responsible for implementing the external aid instruments of the European Commission, which are funded by the European Community budget and the European Development fund. The Office is responsible for all phases of the project cycle, i.e. identification and appraisal of projects and programmes, preparation, decisions, implementation and monitoring, evaluation of the projects and programmes.
The Development Directorate General also heads the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) which provides emergency assistance - goods and services - to victims of natural disasters or armed conflict outside the EU.
In the context of renewable energies and energy efficiency in Latin America, the External Relations Directorate General and the Development Directorate General especially with the EuropeAid Service are the most concerned. The following figure shows the organigramme of the EuropeAid Cooperation Office.
 Figure 1: Overview over Europe Aid Cooperation Offices |
For implementing European development policy, various legal and financial instruments exist. The legal instruments are convention-based or unilateral. Convention-based agreements are either multilateral, associating the EU with a larger number of partners/countries; or bilateral, governing the relations between the EU with a single country.1 The unilateral system is based on EU decisions being independent of any agreement with the partner countries, corresponding to major EU policy.
The financial instruments - the main instrument being the Community budget - are granted according to two approaches:
The geographical approach is centred on three zones, the Mediterranean Basin, Asia & Latin America, and southern Africa (excluding the ACP countries),
A thematic or sector-based approach, focusing on specific aspects, like food aid, humanitarian aid, co-operation with NGOs. The beneficiaries are all around the world including the ACP countries.
In addition to the Community budget, development cooperation is funded through two specific financial instruments, being the European Development Fund (EDF) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), which grants loans in the context of EU external activities.
EU development projects are supported in the course of multi-annual indicative programmes. These are based on strategy papers, realised for each country, which allow to identify main important development axes. Based on this analysis, a development programme is designed and negotiated with the involved country/state. Normally, the programme duration is from two up to five years with an annual review planned for evaluation and re-adjustment.
Today, the European Union is the world's leading development partner, in terms of aid, trade and direct investments. Together, the European Union and its Member States provide 55 % of all official international development aid.2
1.2. Directorate General for Energy and Transport (DG TREN)
The Directorate General for Energy and Transport (DG TREN) is responsible for developing and implementing European policies in the energy and transport field. Its mission is to ensure that energy and transport policies are designed for the benefit of all sectors of the society, businesses, cities, rural areas and above all of citizens.
The Directorate is divided into nine sub-directorates responsible for conventional energies, new energies and demand management, nuclear safety and safeguard, nuclear inspections, inland transport, air transport, maritime transport, and trans-European energy and transport networks, plus the Euratom Supply Agency.
The policy is based on the major policy documents being the Green Paper "Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply" (November 2000) and the White Paper "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide" (September 2001). According to these, the main themes are:
Completing the internal market in energy and transport,
Ensuring sustainable development of transport and energy,
Deployment of major networks in Europe,
Space management,
Improving safety,
Accomplishing enlargement,
Developing international cooperation.
To achieve these aims, DG TREN uses legislative proposals and programme management, including the financing of projects. The main instrument is a multi-annual Framework Programme, which is developed according to the Directorate's policy, guidelines and priorities. Each framework programme will have different specific areas with corresponding programmes, funding arrangements and rules for participation. The calls for proposals and tenders can be considered a roadmap of the framework programme.
The new framework programme "Intelligent Energy for Europe" covers the period from 2003 to 2006. (see below)
1.3. Research Directorate General
The Research Directorate General is responsible for developing and implementing the European Research Area (ERA) by:
Developing and implementing the EU policy in the field of research and technological development in order to increase international competitiveness of the EU industry,
Coordinate European research activities with those carried out in the Member States,
Support EU activities in other fields, e.g. environment, energy, development (cooperation with other Directorates),
Promote the understanding and role of science and research in the European societies.
The Research Directorate General is divided into twelve operational sub-directorates responsible for coordination of community activities, structuring ERA, science and society, the human factor, mobility and Marie Curie activities (scholarships), biotechnology, agriculture and food, health, industrial technologies, space and transport, environment, energy, knowledge-based society and economy, resources. In addition, there are functional units for inter-institutional relations, information and communication, internal audit, planning, programming, evaluation, international scientific cooperation policy, and international scientific cooperation projects.
In the context of renewable energy and energy efficiency, the following thematic Directorates with their respective services are important:3
Directorate I - Environment:
Strategy and policy for sustainable development,
Global change,
Water cycle, including soil-related ecosystems,
Biodiversity and marine ecosystems,
Urban sustainability and cultural heritage,
Administration and finance.
Directorate J - Energy
Strategy and Policy,
Energy production and distribution systems,
New and renewable energy,
Nuclear fission and radioprotection,
Joint development of fusion,
Fusion association agreement,
Administration and finance.
In addition, in the context of sustainable energy in Latin America, the following functional units may be concerned:
Unit 5: International scientific cooperation policy
Unit 6: International scientific cooperation projects
Similar to the Directorate General for Energy and Transport, the policy is implemented through a multi-annual Framework Programme which helps to organise and financially support the cooperation between universities, research centres and industries. The "6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP6)" covers the period from 2003 to 2006 (see following chapter).
The following graph resumes the different services and programmes which concern rural electrification with renewable energies in developing countries:
 Figure 2: Overview over services and programmes relevant for renewable energies and energy efficiency in Latin America |