scholarly journals Controversies Concerning the Interpretation of State Resources as a Prerequisite of State Aid: an Illustration Using the Example of Polish Green Certificates and the Auction System

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 269-282
Author(s):  
Michał Bałdowski
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Broad Definition ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Green Certificates ◽  
Definition Of

The process of Europeanisation in the legal field results in various conflicts between the Member States and European authorities. Cases concerning State aid are an example of such a conflict, where on one hand Member States want to preserve control over various supporting schemes and on the other the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union through a set of judgements and decisions increase their supervisory power over the supporting schemes. The European jurisprudence tend to stretch the scope of State aid by expanding the definition of State resources, which is one of its prerequisites. Applying of such a broad definition of State resources to Polish green certificates scheme and the auction scheme shows negative results of this approach that not only decreases the efficiency of the Renewable Energy Sources supporting schemes but that has a negative reflection on the whole State aid system.

scholarly journals Progressive turnover-based tax systems and EU state aid law: Case C-562/19 P Commission v. Poland and Case C-596/19 P Commission v. Hungary

2021 ◽  
pp. 1023263X2110614
Author(s):  
Yasmine L. Bouzoraa ◽  
Justin Lindeboom
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
State Aid ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Legal Certainty ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Member States ◽  
Fiscal Autonomy ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Tax Systems ◽  
Definition Of

In Commission v. Poland (C-562/19) and Commission v. Hungary (C-596/19) the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that progressive tax systems based on turnover do not by definition provide selective advantages to undertakings with lower turnovers in violation of EU state aid law. The European Commission had declared a Polish tax on retailers and a Hungarian tax on advertisement incompatible with Article 107(1) TFEU because the progressive, turnover-based taxes favoured undertakings with smaller turnovers over those with larger turnovers. The General Court annulled both Commission decisions because such advantages were inherent to the content and objectives of the general tax system, which was for Poland and Hungary to define. The Court of Justice dismissed the appeals by the Commission, affirming that Member States are free, in line with their fiscal autonomy, to opt for a progressive and/or turnover-based tax system. While turnover-based corporate taxation may have market-distortive effects, the Court was right to dismiss the Commission's appeals. The principles of fiscal autonomy and legal certainty require an assessment of selectivity in light of Member States’ own definition of the content and objectives of their tax systems.

Part V Judicial Review before the Court of Justice of the European Union, 3 Decentralized Judicial Review and Enforcement of EU State Aid Rules

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kreuschitz Viktor ◽  
Nehl Hanns Peter
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Judicial Review ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Common Market ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
National Courts ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
The Common

This chapter assesses the enforcement of EU State aid rules. The Commission is not the only authority involved in the monitoring of State aid. As regards the supervision of Member States' compliance with their obligations under Articles 107 and 108 TFEU, the national courts also have an important role to play. The implementation of that system of control is a matter for both the Commission and the national courts, their respective roles being complementary but separate. Whilst assessment of the compatibility of aid measures with the common market falls within the exclusive competence of the Commission, subject to review by the Courts of the European Union, it is for national courts to ensure the safeguarding, until the final decision of the Commission, of the rights of individuals faced with a possible breach by State authorities of the prohibition laid down by Article 108(3) TFEU.

Energy security of the European Union – opportunities and challenges

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Dominika Czapla
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Future ◽  
Nord Stream

For many years, the future of energy has been one of the most important problems and challenges for both national and global policy making. It is related to the high responsibility of the energy sector for climate change on Earth, but also for caring about ensuring sufficient energy for the future generations. Thus, energy policy is an important pillar of maintaining, broadly understood as internal security of the country. The biggest challenge related to ensuring energy security of the European Union is the diversification of energy sources. Member States are trying to tackle this challenge in two ways. Firstly, through the development of renewable energy, and secondly, looking for new channels for the supply of non-renewable energy. The restructuring of the energy sector, which has taken place in recent years, in accordance with the guidelines of the European Union, aims to intensify the use of environmentally friendly renewable energy sources. Equally important is the construction of the Nord Stream 2 and Turk Steam gas pipelines, which has been ongoing for several years, which raises much controversy in the Member States. The article is an analysis of the opportunities and challenges facing the European Union related to ensuring stable energy supplies to European citizens.

scholarly journals Assessing the Sustainable Development and Renewable Energy Sources Relationship in EU Countries

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2323
Author(s):  
Bogdan Włodarczyk ◽  
Daniela Firoiu ◽  
George H. Ionescu ◽  
Florin Ghiocel ◽  
Marek Szturo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Eu Countries ◽  
Additional Support

In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, by adopting the EU Renewable Energy Directive and the European Green Deal, the European Union aims at an extremely ambitious goal to become climate neutral by 2050. This goal involves a massive investment plan to support this initiative, but also to reduce disparities between Member States, in order to transform the Union into a modern, resource-efficient, and competitive economy. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the sustainable development and renewable energy sources relationship in EU countries from a new perspective. Based on Eurostat available data and with the help of hierarchical clustering analysis, the Member States were divided in 2019 into five clusters, highlighting the key characteristics of the selected variables. The results of this research revealed high-performing groups of countries, as well as countries that need increased attention and additional support to become more efficient in achieving their sustainable development goals and renewable energy source targets.

The Production of Electricity from Renewable Energy Sources as a Public Service Obligation

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 486-499
Author(s):  
Tim Maxian Rusche
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Regulatory Mechanism ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
State Aid ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Member States ◽  
Compensation Payments ◽  
Public Service Obligation

AbstractThe article analyses whether electricity production from renewable energy sources can be the object of a public service obligation. This question is of particular importance for the State aid assessment of payments to producers of electricity from renewable energy sources. Such payments typically occur under so-called feed-in tariffs, which are a regulatory mechanism used in most Member States to promote the production of electricity from renewable energy sources. The author argues that there are compelling reasons for considering that Member States can introduce public service obligations with respect to the production of electricity from renewable energy sources, and that compensation payments granted are exempted from the notification obligation under Article 88(3) EC treaty, if the beneficiary undertaking receives not more then 30 million EUR per year as compensation, and if its turnover does not exceed 100 million EUR. Should these thresholds be exceeded, the compensation payments need to be notified to the Commission. The Commission will then assess them under the Community framework for public service compensations, which has been adopted in November 2005.

scholarly journals Significance of the Climate and Energy Package for the Development of Renewable Energy Sources in the European Union

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-60
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Pach-Gurgul
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Energy Package

The utilisation of renewable energy in the European Union seems, at the present stage of energy policy development, inevitable. It offers many benefits, including, above all: the possibility of increasing the energy security of a given state or region thanks to the diversification of the sources of energy supply, the limitation of imports from energy suppliers, such as of natural gas or oil, thus reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels, ecological effects connected with the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions and other substances harmful to the natural environment, economic and social benefits, such as the creation of new jobs. The Climate and Energy Package obliges member states to pursue a common aim – to increase the share of renewable energy to 20% in the general energy balance of the European Union by 2020. This is a challenging task, since the renewable energy sector requires significant financial support to increase its competitiveness, compared to traditional energy sources. When adopting the Energy Package, leaders of member states did not anticipate the economic crisis and its impact on the European Union’s economy, and on the energy sector in particular.  

scholarly journals Comparison of Renewable Energy Sources in ‘New’ EU Member States in the Context of National Energy Transformations

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 7963
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Wałachowska ◽  
Aranka Ignasiak-Szulc
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
New Eu Member States

The European Union strives to create sustainable, low-carbon economies; therefore, energy policies of all member states should move towards renewable energy sources (RES). That concerns also the so-called new EU member states. These countries, on the one hand, are characterized by significant historical similarities in terms of post-communist legacy and adopted development strategies linked with the EU membership, and on the other hand, by significant social, economic and environmental differences resulting from different transformation and development paths and conditions. The question remains how the selected countries should cope with actions in the field of national energy transformations to confront the multiple challenges linked to assuring a significant level of sustainable development. In order to be successful, it is necessary to conduct an effective and rapid changes in the energy industry, which should be preceded by an analysis of the differentiation of countries in terms of their potentials. The results of such analyses should be helpful in selecting the most appropriate strategies for transformation of the described industry. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to assess the new EU member states for RES diversification and identify similar subgroups of countries using cluster analysis, taking into account the percentage share of individual renewable energy sources in total renewable energy production. This was done for the years 2010, 2015 and 2019 which should allow us to demonstrate the differences between them as a group and also reveal changes recorded over time for a single country. Ward’s method was used for the analysis. The presented approach to the analysis of energy production enabled the acquisition of new knowledge in this field and supported the assessment of the current state of RES. The results obtained can be used in countries of comparable specificity to undertake activities of similar nature in relation to internal energy production, technological development or common energy policy.

scholarly journals Classification of Renewable Sources of Electricity in the Context of Sustainable Development of the New EU Member States

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Brożyna ◽  
Grzegorz Mentel ◽  
Eva Ivanová ◽  
Gennadii Sorokin
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Energy Sources ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Electrical Capacity ◽  
New Eu Member States

Climate change and awareness of the need to care for the environment have resulted in a global increase in the interest in renewable energy sources. The European Union (EU) is active in this respect and requires Member States to fulfill specific plans in the transformation of their energy systems. We employed hierarchical cluster analysis in an attempt to distinguish those countries among the new EU Member States that increased their electrical capacity from renewable energy sources to the greatest extent while paying attention to their energy intensity. The analyses were conducted in two scenarios for both 2004 and 2016. The first scenario assumed an analysis of all known renewable energy sources, whereas in the second scenario, only renewable energy sources from wind and solar power plants were included. The division of analyses into these two variants showed the importance of the differences in the energy assessment of individual countries, depending on classification of renewable energy sources. We identified groups of countries where electrical capacity from renewable energy sources increased the most. Conducting analyses using two variants allowed distinguishing countries that based most of their renewable energy on modern renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power plants. The inclusion of gross domestic product in the analyses allowed us to identify countries with the worst energy efficiency value.

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