Representatives of 22 European Union Member States and Norway signed on Thursday 17 December a manifesto expressing their willingness to support the deployment of clean hydrogen in Europe, in particular by developing an important project of common European interest (IPCEI) for hydrogen.
“We want our joint European projects and joint investments in hydrogen technologies to make Europe number 1 in the world, thereby improving our competitiveness and safeguarding long-term jobs”, said German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier.
Welcoming this collaboration of 23 European countries in favour of an IPCEI as “ambitious”, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of Competition Policy, Margrethe Vestager, for her part, assured for her part that the Member States “can rely on the Commission to do its utmost to support the projects and to assess them as soon as they have been notified”.
IPCEIs are projects considered key factors for economic growth, job creation and competitiveness in the EU, often involving high risks and requiring transnational investment by public authorities and industries from several Member States.
In order to qualify as an IPCEI, projects must meet a number of criteria. They then benefit from exemptions from the conventional EU rules on State Aid. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)