Activities of Edit HERCZOG related to 2010/0220(NLE)
Plenary speeches (1)
State aid to facilitate the closure of uncompetitive coal mines (debate)
Amendments (12)
Amendment 28 #
Title
Proposal for a Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) No .../… on State aid to facilitate the closure or transition to competitivity of uncompetitive coal mines
Amendment 32 #
Recital 2
(2) The small contribution of subsidised coal to the overall energy mix no longer justifies the maintenance of such subsidies with a view tof securing the supply of energy on a Union level, as long as that objective can not be guaranteed by other means.
Amendment 41 #
Recital 3
(3) TIn view of the scarcity of autochthonous energy sources in the EU, the Union's policies of encouragfor promoting renewable and lower carbon fossil fuels for power generation do not justify the indefinite support for uncompetitive coal mines. The categories of aid permitted by Regulation (EC) No 1407/2002 should therefore not be continued indefinitely. fuels and the use of fossil fuel in an eco-efficient way in order to generate electricity justify the support to coal mines. The categories of aid permitted by Regulation (EC) No 1407/2002 should not be maintained indefinitely. In any event, all public aid aimed at reducing the effects of pollution caused by coal, should be maintained. Those mines that, after this period, are able to achieve competitiveness and require a financial boost from the public sector to enable them to make technological investments for environmental purposes, will also be exempt from the elimination of aid.
Amendment 48 #
Recital 5
(5) Without prejudice to the general State aid rules, Member States should be able to take measures to alleviate the social and regional consequences of the possible closure of those mines, that is to say the orderly winding down of activities in the context of an irrevocable closure plan and/or the financing of exceptional costs, inherited liabilities in particular.
Amendment 62 #
Recital 8 a (new)
(8a) A minimum level of coal production, together with other measures, especially those aiming at the promotion of renewable energy sources, will contribute to the maintenance of a quota of primary energy sources, which will allow energy security in the European Union to be reinforced significantly. In addition, a quota of autochthonous sources of primary energy will help to promote environmental goals in relation with sustainable development. In this framework of boosting autochthonous energy sources in Europe in order to counterbalance the continent's huge dependence on energy sources from outside its borders, consideration should be given to complementing autochthonous energy sources, which in many Member States are represented solely by coal, with non-fossil ones.
Amendment 64 #
Recital 10
(10) In accomplishing its task, the European Commission should ensure that normal conditions of competition are established, maintained and complied with. With regard to more especially the electricity market, aid to the coal industry should not be such as to affect electricity producers' choice of sources of primary energy supply. Consequently, the prices and quantities of coal should be freely agreed between the contracting parties in the light of prevailing conditions on the world market. In any event, and in order to avoid social or environmental dumping, the Union authorities should ensure that the coal from third countries which is marketed in Europe is extracted in accordance with certain social and environmental standards which are equivalent to those required in respect of European mines.
Amendment 71 #
Article 2 – paragraph 2
2. Aid shall cover only costs in connection with coal for the production of electricity, the combined production of heat and electricity, the production of coke and the fuelling of blast furnaces in the steel industry, research and investments in technology aimed at increasing energy efficiency and reducing polluting emissions from coal, where such use takes place in the Union.
Amendment 77 #
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) the operation of the production units concerned must form part of a closure plan the deadline of which does not extend beyond 1 OctoSeptember 2014 22;
Amendment 83 #
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) the production units concerned must be closed definitively in accordance with the closure plan, if they have not become competitive provided that Europe's energy needs do not require their continued operation;
Amendment 94 #
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point f
(f) the overall amount of closure aid granted by a Member State for any particular undertaking must follow a downward trend, where the reduction between successive periods of fifteen months must not be less than 33 percent of the aid provided in the initial fifteen month period of the closure planmust follow a downward trend;
Amendment 99 #
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point h
(h) the Member State must provide a plan to take measures aimed at mitigating the environmental impact of the use of coal, for example that provides for the creation of local, sustainable jobs and investment in the field of energy efficiency, renewable energy or carbon capture and storage, paying particular attention to mono- industrialised regions where coal mines represent the major employers. The inclusion of measures constituting State aid within the meaning of Article 107 (1) in such a plan is without prejudice to the notification and standstill obligations imposed on the Member State with respect to these measures by Article 108 (3) TFEU, and to the compatibility of these measures with the internal market."
Amendment 102 #
Article 3 – paragraph 2
2. If the production units to which aid is granted pursuant to paragraph 1 are not closed at the date fixed in the closure plan as authorised by the Commission, they have not become competitive and the energy autonomy conditions of that State do not require their continued operation, the Member State concerned shall recover all aid granted in respect of the whole period covered by the closure plan.