The Member States’ representatives to the Council of the EU (Coreper) are expected to instruct the technical services to finalise the compromise text on energy taxation, with a view to reaching an agreement at the November Ecofin Council on Wednesday 9 July. According to an EU Council document dated Monday 30 June, which Agence Europe obtained on Tuesday 8 July, the Danish Presidency of the EU Council “commits to do its utmost to find a solution to the few outstanding issues and to facilitate reaching an agreement that would be acceptable to all”.
Announced as one of its priorities (see EUROPE 13673/4), the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive has been on the table since July 2021. At the Ecofin Council in June, the European Finance Ministers took note of the progress made under the Polish Presidency (see EUROPE 13661/27, 13664/31).
According to the document, Denmark believes that “the negotiations carried out under the previous presidencies have led to a compromise that strikes an appropriate balance between supporting the green transition and the consideration of the specificities of the Member States without jeopardising EU’s competitiveness”. It is convinced of the urgent need to reach a political agreement that would help guarantee the right incentives for the green transition, electrification and energy security.
While most delegations agreed that the compromise reached would be “a clear improvement on the Directive currently in force”, some felt that further discussions were needed on certain technical issues.
Read the document: https://aeur.eu/f/hrj (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)