British nuclear support plans flout EU rules - lawyers
Source: Reuters
Britain's plans to reward nuclear plant operators through fixed prices for low-carbon energy are illegal under existing EU rules and efforts to adapt them are likely to draw opposition from other member states, EU and legal sources said.
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The proposals are being assessed by the British parliament but the subsidy instruments, named contracts-for-difference (CfDs), will also require approval from the European Commission, the EU executive, under state aid rules.
"Neither under the current (...) nor under possible future frameworks could the CfD scheme for nuclear generators be declared compatible with European state aid rules," said Doerte Fouquet, a lawyer specialised in EU law at Becker Buettner Held in Brussels.
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"This raises the question if governments opposed to nuclear energy, and they are in the majority, will allow such a legal act to be drafted and decided by the EU Commission," said Claude Turmes, vice president of the Green party in the European Parliament.
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Read more: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130321/british-nuclear-support-plans-flout-eu-rules-lawyers