International

Dennis de Jong, number one on the SP's list for the forthcoming European Parliament elections, believes the newly-proposed energy label put forward by the European Commission to be "misleading". The Commission's proposal is for the 'A-label', an EU mark designed to encourage energy efficiency, to be offered to more products, with the less energy efficient given a lower percentage figure. “The Commission has once again been lending a keen ear to the views of the corporate business lobby, which has been the case for years," says De Jong. "Instead of the A-label creating more exacting demands, it has been watered down with percentage figures which will not be clear to people. The consumer and the environment lose, while the corporate business lobby celebrates."

Ever more products are currently meeting the energy-efficiency criteria for the A-label, making distinguishing between such products more difficult. The proposed new EU energy label would make a distinction between 'A-20 percent' and 'A-40 percent', instead of making the criteria more exacting and relegating some products to the 'B" group. European consumers' organisations view this as confusing, while the environmentalist movement is also unhappy with the proposal. "They're right," says De Jong. "After all, instead of developing stricter criteria for the A-label, a way has been found to present a much bigger group of products as energy-efficient, when they are no such thing. Brussels needs to change its mind over this. Lobbyists should be subject to compulsory registration and their power reined in. Europe should be for the citizens, not for those with most money and most influence.”