EU member states block Commission’s energy funding proposals
EU foreign ministers have rejected the European Commission’s proposal to finance €3.75bn of energy infrastructure projects from a €5bn pot of unused cash within the bloc’s 2008 budget.
“The prevailing feeling among delegates was that for the money to be used, there had to have been agreement by the end of last year. As this was not the case, the 2008 margin could not be used for financing,” a EU Council spokesman said on Wednesday.
The €5bn figure is the margin between likely EU expenditure for 2008 and the absolute ceiling set for the period within the 2007–2013 financial framework. The Commission had envisaged that it would be used to finance a European economic recovery plan.
The UK, Germany, Sweden, Austria and the Netherlands had provided the main opposition to the Commission’s proposals at the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council held on Monday. These countries make large contributions to the EU’s budget and would have expected to receive back a proportion of any unspent funds.
The Commission had wanted to use the money to fund infrastructure developments such as a North Sea offshore wind farm grid, increased interconnection between markets and carbon capture and storage projects (see EDEM 13.019)
But member states were still behind the general idea of the €5bn recovery plan, according to a Council statement. It called on the Commission to explore alternative funding options under the EU’s 2009 and 2010 budgets. “This could involve margin shortfalls within those years, or there could be some other form of transfer within the budget,” the spokesman said. RA
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