“We have been among the first organisations supporting this important declaration and we are therefore happy to learn that it has been finally adopted with a good consensus within the EP - commented Euro Coop Policy Adviser Rosita Zilli after the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering announced at the beginning of the session in Strasbourg, that with more than half of all MEPs signing the declaration it had been adopted.

“Energy efficiency, the increasing reduction of greenhouse emissions and a higher production of electricity from renewable energy sources have been a shared priority of the European consumer co-operatives for a long time and therefore, for us, this is a decision going in the right direction,” she continued. The parliament and the European Commission have been looking for energy alternatives, especially from renewable sources, to lessen the growing dependence on oil, especially inasmuch as so much of the EU’s energy comes from outside the region, particularly Russia and Central Asia.

Zilli then added that “We also consider as being of the utmost interest the establishment of a hydrogen fuel-cell technology to store renewable energies and the creation of smart power grids to produce and share energy in accordance with the same open-access principles as apply to the Internet now. These two achievements would be in line with the democratic principles on which the consumer co-operative movement bases its philosophy and would result into a big progress for consumers.”

Euro Coop then called on the European Commission as well as the EU Member States to actively follow up to this declaration  by taking it into due consideration when elaborating future policies on energy and climate change and thereby contributing to a more sustainable society.

EURO COOP is the European Community of Consumer Cooperatives, whose members are the national organisations of consumer cooperatives in 17 European countries. Created in 1957, EURO COOP today represents over 3,200 local and regional cooperatives, the members of which amount to more than 22 million consumers across Europe.