Climate Parliament

17 December 2010 Mr. José Manuel Barroso, President of the Brussels, Belgium

Dear Mr. Barroso,

We are writing in response to the Commission's Communication of 19 October regarding the EU Budget Review. We would like to express our view that promoting renewable energy should receive much higher priority in future budgets than is currently envisaged.

Climate and energy issues receive a great deal of political attention within the EU, but the importance of these issues is not yet reflected in the EU budget. It is time for this to change.

These are not just ordinary issues. Climate change is likely to inflict increasingly intense droughts, heat waves and floods on Europe. It threatens our coastlines with sea-level rise, and will bring a flood of refugees to our shores. Meanwhile, our dependence on other regions for much of our fossil fuel supplies undermines our security.

A rapid shift to renewables can make Europe largely self-sufficient in energy, and can eliminate most of our greenhouse gas emissions. The recent Roadmap 2050 study carried out by McKinsey and others for the European Climate Foundation showed that moving to a low carbon economy also makes good economic sense. Indeed, the study found that by 2050 using the free fuels of sun, wind and water, combined with energy efficiency measures, could save every European household as much as €1500 a year – or even more if fossil fuel prices rise sharply.

In the light of these imperatives, a significantly larger percentage of the budgets of the EU and the European Investment Bank should be devoted to promoting renewables. Among other urgent steps, more of our research funds should help to develop technologies such as cheaper solar panels and floating wind turbines. Rural development funds should help farmers deploy smallscale renewables. The EuropeAid budget should make promoting renewables in developing countries a top priority. And substantial funds should be devoted to supporting new long-distance grid connections to enable us to combine Europe's wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal and other renewable energy sources into a reliable supply for everyone.

We hope these priorities will feature more prominently in the draft Financial Perspectives due next year. We look to working with the Commission and the Council to shape a budget that fully reflects the crucial importance of climate and energy issues for the future of the .

Yours sincerely, Graham Watson, MEP, Chairman of the Lord Dubs, United Kingdom, Climate Parliament Bill Newton Dunn, MEP, Lord Alderdice, United Kingdom, Pia Olsen Dyhr, MP, Denmark, Sonia Alfano, MEP, Lena Ek, MEP, Manuel Altava, Senator, Spain, Ioan Enciu, MEP, Lord Alton, United Kingdom, Natascha Engel, MP, United Kingdom, Lord Archer of Sandwell, United Ismail Ertug, MEP, Kingdom, Hans-Josef Fell, MdB, Germany, Kriton Arsenis, MEP, Pernille Frahm, MP, Denmark, Ida Auken, MP, Denmark, Laura Froner, MP, Italy, Petras Austrevicius, MP, Lithuania, Steen Gade, MP, Denmark, Zigmantas Balcytis, MEP, Mike Gapes, MP, United Kingdom, Petra Bayr, MP, Austria, Andrew George, MP, United Kingdom, Catherine Bearder, MEP, Gerben Jan Gerbrandy, MEP, , MEP, Christina Gestrin, MP, Finland, Peter Bottomley, MP, United Kingdom, Ioan Ghise, Senator, Romania, Bruno Braakhuis, MP, , Marietta Giannakou, MEP, Franziska Brantner, MEP Ana Gomes, MEP, Anne Brasseur, MP, Luxembourg, Sandro Gozi, MP, Italy, Kathleen van Brempt, MEP, Kinga Göncz, MEP, Anita Brodén, MP, Sweden, Lord Goodhart, United Kingdom, Cristian Busoi, MEP, Fiona Hall, MEP, Algirdas Butkevičius, MP, Lithuania, Duncan Hames, MP, United Kingdom, Jesús Caldera, MP, Spain, Mike Hancock, MP, United Kingdom, Lord Cameron, United Kingdom Rebecca Harms, MEP, Maria da Graça Carvalho, MEP, Satu Hassi, MEP, Michael Cashman, MEP, Anne Grete Holmsgaard, MP, Denmark, Ole Vagn Christensen, MP, Denmark, Simon Hughes, MP, United Kingdom, Matteo Colaninno, MP, Italy, Lord Hylton, United Kingdom, Anna Paola Concia, MP, Italy, Eric Jadot, MP, Belgium, Simon Coveney, MP, Ireland, Cornelis de Jong, MEP, Katy Clark, MP, United Kingdom, Antti Kaikkonen, MP, Finland, Nic Dakin, MP, United Kingdom, Blaz Kavcic, MP, Slovenia Chris Davies, MEP, Franziska Keller, MEP, Louis Deguara, MP, Malta, Kimmo Kiljunen, MP, Finland, Lord Dholakia, United Kingdom, Lord King, United Kingdom, Egidijus Klumbys, MP, Lithuania, Michèle Rivasi, MEP, Maros Kondrót, MP, Slovakia, Åsa Romson, MP, Sweden, Tõnis Kõiv, MP, Estonia, Paul Rübig, MEP, Peeter Kreitzberg, MP, Estonia, Heide Rühle, MEP, Jean Lambert, MEP, Adrian Sanders, MP, United Kingdom, Oláh Lajos, MP, Hungary, Diederik Samsom, MP, Netherlands, John Leech, MP, United Kingdom, Roberto Della Seta, Senator, Italy Johan Linander, MP, Sweden, Jonas Simenas, MP, Lithuania, Baroness Ludford, MEP, Marsha Singh, MP, United Kingdom, Arminas Lydeka, MP, Lithuania, Alyn Smith, MEP, Caroline Lucas, MP, United Kingdom, Owen Smith, MP, United Kingdom, Isabella Lövin, MEP, Thérèse Snoy, MP, Belgium, Baroness Maddock, United Kingdom, Bart Staes, MEP, Helmuth Markov, MdB, Germany, Christos K. Staikouras, MP, Greece, os Eduardo Martins, MP, Portugal, Ian Swales, MP, United Kingdom, Linda McAvan, MEP, Katalin Szili, MP, Hungary, John McDonnell, MP, United Kingdom, Marc Tarabella, MEP, Liz McManus, MP, Ireland, Keith Taylor, MEP, Michael Meacher, MP, United Kingdom, Lord Teverson, United Kingdom, Horst Meierhofer, MdB, Germany, Baroness Tonge, United Kingdom, Anne-Marie Meldegaard, MP, Denmark, Britta Thomsen, MEP, , MEP, Helga Trüpel, MEP Attila Mesterházy, MP, Hungary, Ioannis Tsoukalas, MEP, Hugo Morán, MP, Spain, Claude Turmes, MEP, Ingrid Nestle, MdB, Germany, Oras Tynkkynen, MP, Finland, David Norris, Senator, Ireland, István Ujhelyi, MP, Hungary, Lars Ohly, MP, Sweden, Viktor Uspaskich, MEP, Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, MP, Malta, Ivo Vajgl, MEP, Jim O'Keeffe, MP, Ireland Baroness Walmsley, United Kingdom, Elsa Papademetriou, MP, Greece, Jim Walsh, Senator, Ireland, Antonyia Parvanova, MEP, Alan Whitehead MP, United Kingdom, Sirpa Pietikäinen, MEP, Christer Winbäck, MP, Sweden, , MEP, Baroness Williams, United Kingdom Pavel Poc, MEP, Simon Wright, MP, United Kingdom, Lord Rea, United Kingdom, Tim Yeo, MP, United Kingdom, Lord Rennard, United Kingdom, Uta Zapf, MdB, Germany

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