Documentation

Lundi 21 Mai 2012 09:33

The Green Paper "Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply" (1) drew attention to the opaque nature of State aid in the energy sector and recognised the need to draw up an inventory of all forms of State aid granted by the Member States to various energy products.

This is the approach adopted in the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of renewable energy sources (2). Article 8 of the Directive provides that, on the basis of reports drawn up by Member States, the Commission shall present to the European Parliament and the Council a summary report on the implementation of the Directive. In particular, the report will identify any discrimination between different energy sources. In the light of the conclusions of the report, the Commission should, if appropriate, submit an EU framework proposal concerning schemes providing aid to electricity produced from renewable energy sources.

Similarly, various working parties within the Commission have also acknowledged the need to make a comparative examination of the various sources of energy, including renewable energies and Euratom loans.

A working party has therefore been set up by the Commission to study trends at national and EU level in the treatment and support of various sources of energy.

The findings of this study will ensure, firstly, that the public aid granted is consistent with the.

Political priorities of the European Union, in particular with regard to transport policy, energy.

Policy, and EU policy on security of supply and the promotion of renewable types of energy. The next stage is to verify whether certain energy sources are, through aid schemes, given advantages that do not adhere to the objectives of energy policy and combating climate change, as has been the case in the past.

The first phase in this wide-ranging exercise was to draw up an initial factual inventory of public aid granted to the various energy sources. It is important for the Commission to have a clear insight into the whole range of public aid granted at national and EU levels in order to enable the European Union to launch a genuine debate on energy policy and the options available and to determine whether some energy sources are given more advantages than others.

Only the level of solid subsidies is known with any degree of certainty, the Commission says, due to long-standing disclosure requirements under the EU coal and steel treaty. In 2001, member states (chiefly Spain and Germany) subsidised coal production to the tune of EUR 6.3bn. Lignite and peat mining were not subsidised.

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(1) COM(2000) 769 final, adopted on 29 November 2000.

(2) Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27.9. 2001, OJ L 283/33, 27.10. 2001.