On Friday 12 June EU energy Ministers and the European Commission presented a progress report on energy efficiency measures in tyres, buildings and energy-labelling, reviewing the progress made during the Czech Presidency.
 
Many Ministers raised concerns over EU plans for a directive on energy efficiency in buildings, accusing the legislation of being overly-ambitious, with measures potentially becoming too high an administrative burden. The European Parliament has recently agreed to Commission proposals, which would see all new buildings built from 2019 having to produce at least as much energy as they consume on sight.
 
Ministers appeared to have less agreement over proposals to have energy-labelling for consumer goods. There seems to be a division between those who back the Commission’s proposals to revise the A-G labelling format, by adding an additional category to the A class, with others supporting the Parliament in its move to block any proposed changes to the labelling system.
 
Proposals for tyre-labelling have proven to be more straight-forward, with Member States generally speaking giving their backing to the idea. The only request made by Ministers, was to add provisions for tyres in Nordic countries, with the Commission now set to propose an amended version of the directive in the coming months.
 
The incoming Swedish Presidency, which takes over from the Czech Republic this week, has already announced that it plans to make energy efficiency one of its top priorities.