Harmonisation of state aid rules in environmental and energy sectors

Policy and Legal Advice Centre (PLAC III) project has provided support to the Commission for State Aid Control in implementing EU state aid acquis in the area of financing in environmental and energy sectors. As part of the project support, Draft guidelines on harmonisation of financing environmental and energy sector in line with state aid rules were developed. The document was presented at a workshop held on 12 May 2021.

Project expert Martina Štorek presented the Uion acquis on state aid in the energy and environmental sectors, as well as a comparative analysis in EU Member States and the Draft Guidelines. State aid rules are set  in the Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU. State aid that is exempted from notification to the European Commission is listed in the Regulation 651/2014 and its amendments set in Regulation 2017/1084 and Regulation 2020/972.

In the environmental protection and energy sectors, the compliance of the state aid  with the common market is decided by the European Commission. The state aid is defined by the Guidelines on State Aid for Environmental Protection and Energy 2014-2020 (implementation extended until 31.12.2021). The document states that those costs that are additional investment costs necessary to exceed the applicable Union standards or to increase the level of environmental protection in the absence of Union standards are eligible for the European Commission.

Lists of existing state aid schemes in two sectors in Serbia were presented by project expert Aeksandra Sekulović.

The workshop was attended by members of the Commission for State Aid Control, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Mining and Energy and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

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