Shocking Decision!

Commission tells EU countries: stop subsidising renewable power

17.09.2006 |Sascha Gabizon

(Brussels, 25 September 2006) - The European Commission has recently warned an EU Member State, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (and possibly also other EU countries), to reverse its current policy of compensating electricity customers for the price difference between alternative (sustainable) energy and power produced using traditional fossil fuels.

The Commission has accused Luxembourg of engaging in market distortion, thereby contravening EU policy, and has warned the Grand Duchy to halt the practice immediately. The European Environmental Bureau, Europe's largest coalition of environmental NGOs, is informing the Commission that its warning goes against a fundamental EU aim of encouraging sustainable development and also undermines the EU's Kyoto objectives.

A resolution to protest at the Commission's action was agreed by EEB members at their Annual General Meeting in Brussels on 23 September. We call on the Commission immediately to renounce this policy, said John Hontelez, EEB's Secretary General. Far from punishing those who devise creative solutions, we must, on the contrary, do all we possibly can to favour the development of alternative sources of energy. He added, "The current situation is deplorable and means that the Commission would effectively penalise people who take responsibility by obtaining their electricity needs from sustainable sources. The Commission seems more concerned with protecting major power generators, to the detriment of the overall environment."

For further information please contact:

John Hontelez, Secretary General, European Environmental Bureau: hontelez@eeb.org ; Tel: +32 (0)2 289 1091. Mobile: +32 (0)486 51 21 27

Peter Clarke, Press & Publications Officer: press@eeb.org; Tel: +32 (0)2 289 1309

See our website below for the resolution by members of the EEB, at its AGM on 23 September.

CENN INFO
Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN)

Tel:+995 32 75 19 03/04
Fax:+995 32 75 19 05
E-mail: info@cenn.org
URL: www.cenn.org