In 2001, the European Union took the global lead by passing the world's most significant piece of legislation for renewable electricity, the RES-E Directive containing its 21% target by 2010.

The European Commission has missed a great opportunity to back up its very strong rhetoric on renewables with a specific sectoral target for electricity, to prevent the undermining of existing successful legislation. "The Commission has described a great destination but is at the same time risking demolishing the existing well-functioning vehicles to get there, while failing to suggest an alternative route. I wouldn't call it a ‘Renewable Roadmap to Nowhere' - rather, it is a ‘Missing Roadmap to Somewhere'. We risk ending up with a European renewable house on a foundation of sand," commented Christian Kjaer, CEO of EWEA.  Read the full response at http://www.ewea.org..