- Promotion of gas-saving in industry falters
- France’s left allies
- Letter to the Commission: EU countries call for mandatory solar rooves
- ETS negotiations continue to falter
- First legislative package to quickly improve sanctions enforcement
- Scholz assures EU partners of solidarity on gas supplies
- Habeck: €14 billion for chip companies
- AI Regulation: more time for implementation
- EU-COVID certificate: EU Parliament supports extension
- What’s cooking in Brussels?
While oil from Russia is no longer wanted, there are fears about Russian gas supplies. German industry is still too dependent to be able to cope with a shortfall. The demand for subsidies from the federal government for energy-saving measures in building renovations has increased to such an extent that the pots ran dry faster than expected. Manuel Berkel has analyzed why further applications can no longer be approved for the time being and why this is hitting the industry particularly hard at the present time.
Yesterday, several EU countries sent a letter to the Commission calling for mandatory solar rooves. Photovoltaic systems are to be installed on certain buildings on a mandatory basis in order to achieve the currently pressing targets. Not among the senders: Germany.
There is hacking and stalling everywhere you look. A compromise is also not in sight in the negotiations on ETS reform. Agreement on the introduction of the second ETS continues to be particularly difficult.
In France, on the other hand, everything happened surprisingly quickly: shortly after the presidential election, in which Jean-Luc Mélenchon narrowly missed the runoff, he is now forming a strong left-wing alliance with the Socialists and Greens against Emmanuel Macron in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. Tanja Kuchenbecker explains why this alliance could pose a threat to the EU.
Have a great weekend!
Lisa-Martina Klein
Feature
Promotion of gas saving in industry stalls
After the stop-and-go on federal funding for building renovation, the traffic light coalition cannot meet demand for another energy-saving program fast enough. For the time being, subsidies for the Energy and Resource Efficiency in the Economy (EEW) program would only be paid out for projects that have already been approved. This was explained by a spokesman for the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (BAFA) on Thursday evening at the request of Europe.Table. However, the authority does not want to speak of a funding stop.
With the program, BAFA and KfW promote the acquisition of energy-efficient new plants, the optimization of existing processes, and the conversion of heat applications in industry and commerce to renewable energies. According to the Ministry of Economics, more than 11,000 applications with a total funding volume of €567 million were approved last year.
The background to the current delays is the rapid increase in interest from companies as a result of high energy costs and the ongoing budget negotiations. Following the change of government, the federal budget for 2022 has not yet been passed. “The ‘Energy and Resource Efficiency in Business’ (EEW) program is therefore under provisional budgetary management. For the EEW program, therefore, only projects that have already been approved will be paid out for the time being,” BAFA Europe.Table announced.
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