Brussels, 09/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - In informal talks on Tuesday 8 October, the EU College of Commissioners decided to drop the special scientific criteria for assessing potential aid for the nuclear industry that had been included in the draft guidelines unveiled by the European Commission for state aid rules for the environment and energy in 2014-2020 (see EUROPE 10924). The Commission's document will be the subject of a public consultation exercise in November before being adopted in 2014, and any reference to scientific criteria will be moved. Aid for the nuclear industry will be examined on a case-by-case basis by directly applying the EU treaty, as currently applies for state aid for energy, announced EU Competition Commissioner Almunia, who has responsibility for the issue.
The nuclear rules contained in the guidelines say that the member states must request authorisation from the Commission if they want to give state aid for nuclear-generated electricity and must meet detailed criteria laid down in the guidelines to demonstrate that the aid pursues an EU common objective; is a suitable way of achieving said objective; in the absence of aid, the objective would not be reached (due to failure by the market); and the aid will not exceed the amount necessary to achieve the pursued objective.
Some people in Germany saw the special scientific criteria as the Commission giving tacit encouragement to the use of nuclear power, because the guidelines said that aid for the nuclear industry would achieve an EU common objective (covered by the Euratom treaty). At a press conference, Almunia said that the guidelines now do not talk about aid for nuclear energy or encouraging or discouraging member states from using nuclear power, because this is something for the member states to decide, not the Commission. He said it was simply a matter of deciding whether prior criteria were needed to decide on the compatibility of aid with the EU treaty. The Commissioners, he said, will now decide on a case-by-case analysis of the criteria for state aid.
The countries most affected by this are France and the United Kingdom, where EDF is negotiating a special contract involving state aid so that it can sell electricity at a fixed rate (€100/MWh) independently of the market price, from new nuclear power stations it is planning to build. The contract could be deemed illegal if it is not covered by the exemptions laid down in the special criteria (which have now been removed) and instead is considered under the normal treaty. (FG/transl.fl)