The European Commission Wednesday adopted country-specific recommendations for Baltic and Nordic countries on economic policies for 2015 and 2016 requesting national action to be taken to create jobs and stimulate growth.
In the EC's recommendations to all Baltic and Nordic countries, Finland was found to have clear investment needs for its infrastructure. They also recommended the country could benefit from diversifying its energy supply.
Finland is a country with a single gas source from Russia. According to the EC, investment in liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminals could be one way of diversifying energy supply in the medium term.
Finland is planning to undertake a major gas interconnector project with Estonia, the ‘Balticconnector,’ which is a new 150 kilometer-long bidirectional pipeline.
The Balticconnector will make gas available from the regional LNG terminal project to Baltic countries including Finland. It will also give the Finnish gas market access to the Latvian underground gas storage in Incukalns.
"The LNG terminal will reduce the dependence of Estonia and Finland on imported Russian gas and will thereby contribute in the medium-term to an improvement in the security of supply in the Baltic region," the EC said.
The EC warned Denmark of the need to boost its investments to strengthen the Danish economy.
Denmark’s energy strategy plans to use renewable energy to cover its entire energy needs by 2050.
"Further investment in electricity and gas networks could enhance the interconnection capacity with neighboring countries," the EC said.
The commission said Sweden is making good progress towards the achievement of its climate EU targets. However, emissions from transportation have only decreased marginally since 2005 and remain a particular policy challenge. It suggested that Sweden could further enhance this through tax measures and pilot programs in order to stimulate further emissions reductions.
In 2012, Sweden's shares in renewables was 51 percent. This achievement has meant the country has already reached its Europe 2020 target of 49 percent, and is well on its way to achieve 100 percent renewable energy in the longer term.
- Baltic members
The EC praised Estonia’s renewable movement and reminded that Estonia has reached its 2020 renewable energy target with a level of 25.8 percent in 2012.
The Commission recommended that Latvia enhance its energy regulations and deal with ownership issues.
"Latvia has fully opened its electricity retail market. However, electricity connections with Estonia are inadequate and challenges remain to ensure the smooth functioning of the regional electricity market," the EC noted.
The EC found energy investments low in Latvia and said low investment can reduce competitiveness and growth potential, weighing on productivity and capacity to produce jobs.
According to the EC, Lithuania needs to ensure security of energy supply and competition in the energy market.
"Several projects may be completed but what Lithuania needs is more progress," the EC warned and added the country is likely to miss its Europe 2020 greenhouse gas emission targets if such improvements are not made.
Since the closure of its nuclear power plant in 2009, the country imported almost all of its energy needs from non-EU countries. It is therefore exposed to considerable energy supplies risks.
"Moreover, Lithuania’s economy continues to suffer from high levels of energy intensity, with housing and industry showing values well above the EU average," the EC stressed.
On the other hand, the commission added that Lithuania made some progress in improving its energy infrastructure network.
"If Lithuania continues to work on this, it will strengthen its energy supply security further,” the EC said.
Lithuania's LNG terminal, which was built in December 2014, is one of the first LNG distribution stations in the Baltic Sea. The country plans to initially import around 2-3 billion cubic meters, bcm, of gas through the terminal. This is projected to rise to 10 bcm. The LNG terminal will gradually help Lithuania downscale the country's dependence on Russian pipeline exports.
It is expected that Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Sweden will also import gas from the terminal.
(Anadolu Agency)
