Latest news with #stateaid
Reuters
25-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
EU eases state aid rules to boost green projects, cut carbon footprint
BRUSSELS, June 25 (Reuters) - Businesses will find it easier to get state aid for projects aimed at cutting their carbon emissions and to switch to green projects while heavy industries will benefit from temporary power price relief under looser rules announced by the European Commission on Wednesday. The new state aid rules, valid until December 2030, are part of the Commission's goal to revitalise Europe's industries with its Clean Industrial Deal to help them better compete with U.S. and Chinese rivals and also encourage them to stay put in Europe. The new rules will make it easier for pension funds, insurers and other private investors to co-invest in green projects. However, industry association Eurometaux said more needs to be done to help European businesses and the new legislation did little to simplify the current regulatory landscape. Under the new rules, state support can be direct grants, tax advantages including tax credits and accelerated depreciation, subsidised interest rates on new loans or guarantees on new loans. The amount of state aid can be up to 200 million euros ($232 million) or based on the funding gap or as a result of a competitive bidding process. Beneficiaries are projects to roll out renewable energy and low carbon fuels, investment aid schemes, direct price support schemes and capacity mechanisms. Heavy industries such as chemicals or cement makers applying for temporary electricity price relief will have to invest in decarbonisation. "The new framework simplifies and speeds up support for decarbonisation, but it goes further: it recognises the state as a strategic investor in our future," Commission Vice-President Teresa Ribera said in a statement. "It's a tool to drive climate ambition, strengthen Europe's resilience, and ensure our industry remains globally competitive," she said. Eurometaux Director General James Watson said, "the Clean Industrial Deal State Aid Framework fails to live up to the Commission's political promises of 'prosperity and competitiveness'." "While we welcome the investment support for critical raw material production, it is crucial to ensure that all enabling conditions are in place to support a strong and sustainable metals sector in Europe," he added. ($1 = 0.8624 euros)
Reuters
24-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Heavy industries to get power price relief under new EU state aid rules, draft document shows
BRUSSELS, June 24 (Reuters) - Energy intensive industries will receive temporary electricity price relief under new EU state aid rules due to be announced on Wednesday, a European Commission draft showed. "Until the decarbonisation of the Union's electricity system fully translates into lower electricity prices, industries within the Union will continue to face higher costs compared to competitors in jurisdictions with less ambitious climate policies," the draft seen by Reuters said. Companies can benefit from electricity price relief for up to 3 years but not beyond Dec. 31, 2030. The relief will not cover more than half of the yearly average wholesale price and not more than 50% of the company's annual electricity consumption, the document showed.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany's top-up benefit system encourages low wages, says lawmaker
Germany's benefits system is encouraging low wages, a hard-left lawmaker has said, as official figures revealed that more than 800,000 German workers are reliant on top-up payments from the state. A government response to a parliamentary question by Cem Ince, from The Left party, seen by dpa, showed that 826,000 workers receive top-up payments because their income is insufficient. The payments cost the German state around €7 billion ($8 billion) per year. Ince said "it cannot be that hundreds of thousands have to rely on state aid despite working." "In this way, we are supporting low wages and maintaining the exploitation of labourers, instead of investing in care and nursery places, which would offer many people a way out of the trap of part-time employment," he added. After the introduction of the legal minimum wage in 2015 - at €8.50 per hour - the number of workers relying on top-up benefits sank from 1.2 million to 796,000 in 2023. However, the number has risen again for the first time since 2015. The new German government under Chancellor Friedrich Merz has agreed to target a €15 minimum wage by 2026.
Bloomberg
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
China Says Progress Made With EU on Electric Vehicle Price Talks
China's commerce ministry said talks with the European Union on setting minimum prices for Chinese-made electric vehicles have 'entered final stages,' although more work is required to reach a deal. The two sides are hammering out an agreement after the EU imposed steep tariffs on Chinese EV imports last year, alleging state subsidies gave them an unfair advantage.
Reuters
06-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Metal industry group says new EU state aid rules fail to help
BRUSSELS, June 6 (Reuters) - European Commission plans to revamp state aid rules overlook heavy industry, critical to processing energy transition metals, as they fail to mitigate high energy costs while green rules could penalise them, a metals industry group said in a letter on Friday. The Commission is due to announce new state aid rules on June 26 after a public consultation on its February proposal. "While we are committed to industrial decarbonisation, a framework that is over-focused on this objective and fails to concurrently and robustly address the competitiveness of energy-intensive industries would be a critical error," industry group Eurometaux said in the letter. The group sent the letter this week to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the commissioners in charge of climate, industry, energy and competition. The new rules are part of the Commission's goal to revitalise Europe's flailing industries with its Clean Industrial Deal. The spike in energy costs over the last few years due to the loss of Russian natural gas has hit European industry hard. The share of energy has risen to 60% of total operational costs for some smelters versus 40% prior to the 2021-2022 energy crisis. The high costs make the sector increasingly uncompetitive at a time when the EU wants to reduce its over-dependence on third countries, namely China, for strategic materials key to clean tech and power grid infrastructure. U.S. rivals benefit from cheap gas and Chinese firms from massive state aid across the supply chain. "Measures substantially addressing our sectors' competitiveness are absent from the proposed framework. The adopted Clean Industry State Aid Framework must go beyond for immediate support to energy intensives, to cope with very high energy prices," the letter states. "There are currently no mechanisms helping electricity consumers switch to consuming low-carbon electricity sources." Heavy industry cannot fully take advantage of the bloc's rising renewable energy output due to location and daily variability, forcing them to rely on expensive fossil fuels. The draft rules could exclude companies from state benefits owing to their indirect electricity emissions. Further, the letter calls for the Commission to support the return of idled capacity such as Slovalco's aluminium smelter in Slovakia. "Failure to act will inevitably lead to a further loss of our industrial capacity," the group said in its letter.
