WRITTEN QUESTION E-1996/01

by María Rodríguez Ramos (PSE) and Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza (PSE) to the Commission

(6 July 2001)

Subject: Expiry of the ECSC Treaty and coal aid

The Commission Communication on an EU strategy for sustainable development argues that the EU's actions must be consistent with the objectives of sustainable development and one of the measures it proposes (in view of the damage which coal is alleged to do to the environment) the gradual withdrawal of production subsidies by 2010.

Does it not occur to the Commission that, if there is an inconsistency in authorising aid for an allegedly dirty energy source such as coal produced within the European Union, the production of electricity from imported coal would have to be banned?

Is the Commission really intending to ban all coal-based electricity production throughout the European Union?

Answer given by Mrs de Palacio on behalf of the Commission

(21 September 2001)

On 15 May 2001 the Commission adopted a communication on a European strategy for sustainable development(1). The strategy proposed by the Commission provides in particular for the gradual removal by 2010 of subsidies for the production and consumption of fossil fuels. Aware, however, of the possible impact of certain decisions on the security of long-term energy supply in the Union, the Commission said there was a need to look into whether it was necessary to create a coal reserve or whether a minimum production of coal could be maintained. The communication also stated that the Commission would be submitting a proposal to the Council in the course of 2001 with a view to the adoption of a system of State aids to the coal industry before the ECSC Treaty expires in July 2002.

Thus, despite the fact that it favours the development of more environmentally friendly energy sources, the sustainable development strategy proposed by the Commission is consistent with the approach developed in the Green Paper on a European strategy for the security of energy supply adopted by the Commission on 29 November 2000(2), since it does not rule out the possibility of measures for maintaining a minimum of coal production. In fact it acknowledges the need to find a compromise between environmental protection on the one hand and improving the security of energy supply on the other.

Based on these principles, the Commission adopted by its Decision of 25 July 2001 a proposal for a Council Regulation on State aid to the coal industry(3) after the expiry of the ECSC Treaty. The system proposed amounts to the creation by the Member States of an indigenous base of primary energy sources, in order to improve the Union's security of energy supply.

The Commission does not intend to prohibit the production of electricity from coal in the Union. On the contrary, the Green Paper Towards a European strategy for the security of energy supply says that electricity production will in future have to be covered by a range of energy products available on the market: natural gas, coal, oil, nuclear and renewables.

The Commission has put in place a number of legislative measures in connection with the reduction of pollutant emissions due to electricity production from fossil fuels, in particular Council Directive 88/609/EEC of 24 November 1988 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants(4) and Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention and control(5).

In addition, with programmes like Energy, Carnot and the ECSC Research Programme the Commission is supporting the development, demonstration and dissemination of clean technologies for producing energy from fossil fuels.

(1) COM(2001) 264 final.

(2) COM(2000) 769 final.

(3) COM(2001) 423 final.

(4) OJ L 336, 7.12.1988.

(5) OJ L 257, 10.10.1996.