Europese Commissie keurt staatssteun aan hongaarse gas- en kolenbedrijven (en)

The European Commission has decided today not to raise any objections to the € 67.6 millions aid which Hungary is proposing to grant to mining company Vértesi Erömü Rt. for the years 2005 and 2006. The aid is compatible with the proper functioning of the common market. At the same time, it decided that the fixed feed-in tariffs for coal which Hungary imposed upon the state-owned electricity undertaking MVM in the years 2004 and 2005 did constitute State aid, which is compatible with the common market.

The Commission has already approved the restructuring plan for the Hungarian coal industry for the years 2004 to 2010 by decision of 22 June 2005. It now had to decide whether the aid Hungary intends to grant to its coal industry for the years 2004 to 2006 is in line with this restructuring plan.

For the year 2004 and the first half of 2005, the Commission has decided that the fixed feed-in tariffs ^[1], which the Hungarian electricity distribution company had to pay for the electricity produced from coal, and the fixed feed-in tariffs which the Hungarian municipalities had to pay for heat produced from coal in the year 2004, do indeed constitute state aid, contrary to what the Hungarian government claimed. The Commission's legal assessment of these fixed feed-in tariffs has revealed that they do imply the transfer of state resources, as the criteria laid out in the 2001 PreussenElektra judgement of the Court of Justice are not fulfilled. The Commission has considered that this State aid is compatible with the common market.

For the second half of 2005 and for the year 2006, Hungary plans to pay € 67.6 million to mining company Vértesi Erömü Rt, which will use this money in order to cover the difference between the production costs for its coal and the sales price it can achieve for it. The Commission has found that these payments are in line with the restructuring plan.

^[1] i.e. the transmission system operator pays a fixed price, which is above the market price, to the coal power plant for the electricity produced by that plant.