MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the climate, energy and environmental State aid guidelines (CEEAG)

19.10.2021 - (2021/2923(RSP))

to wind up the debate on the statements by the Council and the Commission
pursuant to Rule 132(2) of the Rules of Procedure

Bogdan Rzońca, Roberts Zīle, Raffaele Fitto, Johan Van Overtveldt, Adam Bielan, Joachim Stanisław Brudziński, Ryszard Czarnecki, Anna Fotyga, Patryk Jaki, Izabela‑Helena Kloc, Elżbieta Kruk, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, Beata Mazurek, Andżelika Anna Możdżanowska, Tomasz Piotr Poręba, Elżbieta Rafalska, Jacek Saryusz‑Wolski, Beata Szydło, Dominik Tarczyński, Grzegorz Tobiszowski, Witold Jan Waszczykowski, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, Anna Zalewska
on behalf of the ECR Group

B9‑0534/2021

European Parliament resolution on the climate, energy and environmental State aid guidelines (CEEAG)

(2021/2923(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to the draft Commission communication entitled ‘Guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy 2022’,

– having regard to the Commission communication of 21 September 2020 entitled ‘Guidelines on certain State aid measures in the context of the system for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading post 2021’[1],

– having regard to the Commission’s evaluation of EU State aid rules,

– having regard to the public consultation on the revised climate, energy and environmental aid guidelines (CEEAG),

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas the draft guidelines on State aid for climate, environmental protection and energy set out the conditions under which State aid for energy and environmental protection may be considered compatible with the single market;

B. whereas the EU’s climate objectives present unprecedented challenges in a very ambitious timeline that will require enormous levels of public and private investment;

C. whereas the list of sectors eligible for State aid has been significantly reduced in the CEEAG;

D. whereas the actions required by European businesses in the decarbonisation process will involve great challenges, such as dealing with increasing energy costs, high compliance costs and adjustments to many industrial processes;

E. whereas the risk of carbon leakage is significant if companies cannot maintain their competitiveness during the transition to decarbonisation;

F. whereas a robust State aid framework could make a significant contribution to key political priorities such as a deeper and fairer single market, the EU’s global competitiveness and the transition towards a less carbon-intensive economy;

G. whereas the EU’s State aid framework should be consistent and coherent with the current EU acquis;

H. whereas EU job growth and economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis are at risk of being jeopardised if the European industrial sector cannot maintain its competitiveness;

I. whereas the stated objective of the revision of the CEEAG is to allow the extension of the scope of the guidelines to new areas and technologies, and to ensure alignment and coherence with relevant EU environmental and energy legislation;

J. whereas the Commission relies heavily on trade intensity and energy intensity in order to determine which sectors are eligible for State aid;

K. whereas investments in energy efficient and low-carbon technologies require economic predictability in order to minimise investment risk;

1. Considers that the transition towards a less carbon-intensive economic model requires significant investments from both the private and the public sector;

2. Calls on the Commission to pay due attention and to give careful consideration to sectors that depend on many other industries as well as the EU’s social and economic value chain, in particular sectors suffering from high energy costs and intense international competition; considers that such sectors require a certain degree of public support in order to undergo the climate transformation without carbon leakage;

3. Considers that excluding too many sectors from eligibility for State aid, including through the revised EU Emissions Trading System State aid guidelines, could put the EU’s international competitiveness at risk;

4. Notes that in the light of the technological change required by the transition towards a less carbon-intensive model, State aid rules need to include a certain degree of flexibility;

5. Welcomes the general objectives of extending the scope of the CEEAG to cover new areas such as clean mobility, increasing flexibility and streamlining current rules; regrets, however, that some elements of the draft CEEAG fall significantly short of the stated objective; calls on the Commission to more adequately address the significant demands put on European companies in their transition to a less carbon-intensive economy;

6. Emphasises that, in the light of the EU’s climate ambitions, more rather than fewer sectors might require public support through State aid; calls therefore on the Commission to include more sectors for eligibility for State aid within the new guidelines, while at the same time avoiding excessive levels of burden of proof, bureaucracy and uncertainty;

7. Calls on the Commission to take into account objective environmental standards when weighing the positive effects of State aid against the negative effects on competition;

8. Points out that the Commission’s heavy reliance on the trade intensity metric for the determination of State aid eligibility might not sufficiently take into account substitution effects, the complexity of supply chains and the threat of foreign competition that has not yet materialised, but is still factored into the economic decision-making of European businesses; expresses serious doubts about the general increase of the trade intensity requirement as a prerequisite for State-aid eligibility;

9. Stresses that a gradual phasing-out of highly polluting fossil fuel projects should be accompanied by support possibilities for new less carbon-intensive technologies; calls on the Commission to be more flexible in its assessment of State aid for the use of nuclear energy, hydrogen, advanced biofuels and natural gas where it replaces more carbon-intensive technologies;

10. Calls on the Commission to ensure legal certainty for support schemes that have already been approved under the old State aid regime; calls on the Commission to authorise State aid schemes for a period that is long enough to take into account the planning and development timeframes of the relevant projects;

11. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the Council.

 

• [1] OJ C 317, 25.9.2020, p. 5.