Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The often hailed directives 2003/54/EC and 2009/28/EC cause a lot of difficulties as
they are built on a very weak legal basis. The fact that leading members of the
Desertec Foundation still invoke these directives illustrates that there is a need to
deal with this material in greater depth. It would be highly risky to build this project
with these directives as they are subject to a lot of discussion.
Furthermore, the foundation of the UM highlighted that even European countries
still have issues with the leading roles of what are known as “close partners”. The
French answer to the “German” Desertec, embodied in the foundation of
Transgreen, is a perfect example that it would be completely unacceptable for
Germany to take a leading role. This is also connected to the fear that the Desertec
Concept might provide a service of general interest. Thus, it is unlikely that any
European country could take on a leading role in the implementation of the
Desertec Concept. Based on this, there is only a private initiative left to implement
the project. Within Europe, Dii was the company which has dealt the most with the
topic of solar thermal energy from North Africa. Since Dii
s failure, there is no
other investor in sight that might be able to facilitate this kind of project.
On the other hand, there is the MENA region. There are no international or
supranational organizations which could be contractual partners. In particular, the
AU does not offer any help as it still lacks internal acceptance and the necessary
setup. It is going to be important to include the AU in all relevant negotiations as a
third party (vice versa to the EU on the European side), but at the moment it cannot
take over any leading role. Although all parties stress that the MENA region must
be understood as one continuum, this is window dressing. There is a clear line
between Middle Eastern and North African countries. At the moment, ongoing
revolutions or internal conflicts are shaking the whole region at the grassroots level
and creating unforeseeable situations for any Western investor. The outcomes of
these movements are unpredictable. Nevertheless, countries of the Middle East face
even more severe problems than an unstable or unjust government. The utilization
of the Shari
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a and the problem of terroristic attacks hamper this region tremen-
dously. On the contrary, North African countries have a more European-influenced
background, which also reflected in their domestic laws. Morocco in particular has
a close cooperation with Europe, which makes it an interesting partner for the
implementation of the Desertec Concept. The fact that King Mohammed VI
initiated democratic reforms long before the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and
Libya created a more stable political system. During the revolutions, the Moroccan
government was never at risk of being overthrown. Even recent terroristic attacks
did not harm the political stability. Political reforms, as happened in 2011, also help
to stabilize the system. Without a doubt, there are also problems connected to
Morocco, e.g. the Western Sahara Conflict. Furthermore, the judicial system is not
as independent as Moroccan politicians claim. The internal setup of legal compe-
tences within Morocco is rather complicated, but overall it seems that an investor
must deal with ONE as a contractual partner for some of the Desertec Concept
contracts. Nevertheless, it is the best suited country at the moment.
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