VCompared to the 200 billion euros that the federal government in Berlin is planning to deal with the energy crisis, the amount is small. Nevertheless, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers of the member states have long wrestled over how to finance the 20 billion euros with which the European Commission wants to push the EU’s decoupling from Russian energy supplies. The Commission wants to use the money as part of the Repower EU program in May to promote the expansion of green electricity and energy saving, but also investments in liquid gas terminals and alternative pipelines.
The problem was that the Commission wanted to finance the money by selling 250 million EU emission allowances from the so-called market stability reserve. This met with fierce resistance from climate protectors.
After all, the reserve is supposed to ensure that the market for the CO2-Emission rights are not flooded with excess rights as in the past – and thus the CO2-Keep the price high. The Environment Committee of the EU Parliament and the Council of Ministers have therefore now adjusted the financing.
The Environment Committee wants to bring forward the auctioning of certificates that were planned for the years 2026 to 2030 and distribute the income to the member states by the end of 2025. This has the positive side effect that the currently high energy prices are now being dampened without weakening the EU’s climate goals, said CDU MP Peter Liese. After all, from 2026 onwards, more CO2 be saved.
On Tuesday, the EU finance ministers also decided to auction CO2– Prefer rights. But that should only bring in 5 billion euros. They want to take the remaining 15 billion euros from the innovation fund, with which the EU actually uses innovative projects to reduce CO2-Emission promotes. Before the money can be distributed, the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers must now agree on a common line. There should also be a need for discussion about how the money will be distributed between the member states. The EU Parliament also wants 50 percent to flow into cross-border projects.
