EU competitiveness ministers confirmed Friday an agreement with the European Commission to extend national governments' right to give aid to the coal mining industry until December 2018.
Governments will be able "to continue to grant, under certain conditions, public aid to the coal industry" for closing uncompetitive hard coal mines until December 2018 under the decision adopted by ministers at their meeting in Brussels on Friday.
The EU's existing rules are due to expire on December 31, 2010. In July, the EC proposed extending them to October 1, 2014, but came under pressure from Germany in particular for an extension to 2018.
In November, the European Parliament also called for an extension to 2018, even though it has no formal legal role in the decision.
The EC's press service said Thursday that in light of the debates in the parliament and EU Council the EC had adopted a new position allowing an extension to December 31, 2018, under certain conditions.
EU ministers backed these conditions Friday, including requiring national governments to have a plan to mitigate the environmental impact of coal use, for example by promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy or carbon capture and storage.
They also backed the EC's condition that governments must reduce the aid granted each year, deciding that by the end of 2017 the operating subsidies left must be less than a quarter of what they were in 2011.
The decision also allows subsidies to cover exceptional expenditure related to closing mines, such as social welfare costs and rehabilitating sites, until December 2027.
The decision applies from January 1, 2011 until December 31, 2027.
Governments will be able "to continue to grant, under certain conditions, public aid to the coal industry" for closing uncompetitive hard coal mines until December 2018 under the decision adopted by ministers at their meeting in Brussels on Friday.
The EU's existing rules are due to expire on December 31, 2010. In July, the EC proposed extending them to October 1, 2014, but came under pressure from Germany in particular for an extension to 2018.
In November, the European Parliament also called for an extension to 2018, even though it has no formal legal role in the decision.
The EC's press service said Thursday that in light of the debates in the parliament and EU Council the EC had adopted a new position allowing an extension to December 31, 2018, under certain conditions.
EU ministers backed these conditions Friday, including requiring national governments to have a plan to mitigate the environmental impact of coal use, for example by promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy or carbon capture and storage.
They also backed the EC's condition that governments must reduce the aid granted each year, deciding that by the end of 2017 the operating subsidies left must be less than a quarter of what they were in 2011.
The decision also allows subsidies to cover exceptional expenditure related to closing mines, such as social welfare costs and rehabilitating sites, until December 2027.
The decision applies from January 1, 2011 until December 31, 2027.
