Brussels, 18/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - In the next few weeks, the European Commission will submit new guidelines on state aid for the environment and energy for 2014-2020 to stakeholders for their comments before unveiling the final draft in the summer of next year. The new guidelines will replace the 2008 ones and this newsletter has seen the latest version. An initial version was leaked to the press in July, generating controversy. The Greens Group says that the new version will limit subsidies for renewable energy and allow subsidies for building new nuclear power plants (see EUROPE 10892) and coal-fired power stations.
Under the new draft, the guidelines will apply to aid for protection of the environment (including the capture, storage and transport of CO2), along with energy across the board (transport, coal, farming, fisheries and fish farming) including energy infrastructure, capture mechanisms and nuclear energy. To be eligible under the EU's state aid rules, environmental aid must ensure a high level of environmental protection compared with what would be achieved without the aid: aid for energy infrastructure must help strengthen the single market, ensure adequate provision of energy and facilitate transition to a low-carbon economy. The following will need to be notified to the Commission: a) aid schemes involving high levels of public money and aid not covered by the general exemption by category regulation (RGEC); b) ad hoc aid guaranteed for big companies and ad hoc aid not covered the RGEC; c) individual aid guaranteed using existing set-ups and exceeding the notification criteria laid down in RGEC. The member states will be required to provide detailed information demonstrating that the following criteria have been met: helping meet a well-defined general interest objective, state intervention as a result of a clearly justified failure of the market, the appropriate and proportionate character of the aid vis-a-vis the objective of the aid helping develop other activities, avoiding potential negative outcomes on competition and the single market and transparency in respect of the criteria under which the aid is granted.
On the controversial areas, the guidelines state the following: - Nuclear: the draft states that the development of nuclear energy and investment in it in particular is an objective covered by the Euratom Treaty and therefore the Commission does not question the fact that these aid measures will help achieve an EU common objective. When it comes to dismantling old (pre-2006) nuclear power plants and process nuclear waste, the Commission says that the polluter-pays principle applies and therefore the member states must ensure that operators have enough financial resources to close down power plants safely. Exceptions may be allowed in certain circumstances, for example, aid to cover the gap between the amount the operator initially forecast dismantling would require and the real costs in practice. - Renewable energy: the draft reduces or allows exemption to environment taxes and reductions in charges for financing aid for renewable energy and investment or projects having a favourable impact on the environment. It notes, however, that set levels of tax credits are seen as creating fewer distortions of competition and might be preferable to reducing charges for electricity. Member states will have to provide detailed information about, and a list of, the beneficiaries of the reductions and exemptions and the sectors involved, which will have to pay at least 20% of the national tax, with measures in their favour being limited to ten years of duration. (FG/transl.fl)