The European Commission wants to modify the ‘Research Fund for Coal and Steel’ (RFCS) to align it with the objectives of the European Green Deal, according to information published in Contexte on 27 July.
Created in light of the expiry of the Treaty of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) on 23 July 2002, this fund is endowed with income from investments of the ECSC’s assets in liquidation to support research projects in the steel and coal sectors.
Since 2003 and until recently, these assets have provided positive returns that have made it possible to support research projects to the tune of €50 million a year, according to the proposal for amending the RFCS, which the Commission sent to the EU Council on 16 July.
Nevertheless, the Commission considers that these positive returns are unlikely to last because of the decline in bond yields on the financial markets, exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis.
In a report published in September (see EUROPE 12336/13), the European Court of Auditors also found that the ECSC’s remaining assets are insufficient to finance the fund.
According to the Commission, it therefore appears necessary to look for “alternative means to put the assets of the fund to work in support of EU policies”.
In this context, it therefore proposes that the EU Council amend its Decision (2003/77/EC) on the RFCS so that, from 1 January 2021, the fund’s assets may be sold, if necessary, to make payments out of an annual endowment of up to EUR 111 million until 2027.
The institution also suggests that this annual budget of EUR 111 million be used to support research projects aimed at developing fully decarbonised steel production processes by 2030 and to contribute to a just transition for the coal sector.
In 2019, the NGO Greenpeace singled out the RFCS in a report published by its investigative project ‘Unearthed’ (https://bit.ly/2DiF0BY ) as “dark money” supporting the coal industry.
Shortly afterwards, on the basis of Commission documents, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), another NGO, accused the institution of using the fund to pay coal lobby salaries (https://bit.ly/3gigOOy ).
According to a report published at the time by the newspaper Euractiv, a project entitled ‘CoalTech2051’, led by Euracoal, an organisation representing the European coal industry, received almost 50,000 euros to hire an employee for seven months, for example.
See the Commission’s proposal: https://bit.ly/3fd5ySx (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)