The European Environmental Bureau has accused the European Commission of trying to stop subsidizing renewable power and of siding with major power companies rather than working to truly protect the environment.
The European Commission recently warned Luxembourg to reverse its current policy of compensating electricity customers for the price difference between alternative (‘sustainable’) energy and power produced using traditional fossil fuels. The Commission has accused Luxembourg of engaging in ‘market distortion,’ thereby contravening EU policy, and has warned the country to halt the practice immediately.
The European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Europe’s largest coalition of environmental non-governmental organizations, claims that the Commission’s warning goes against a fundamental EU aim of encouraging sustainable development and also undermines the EU’s Kyoto objectives.
We call on the Commission immediately to renounce this policy, said John Hontelez, the EEB’s secretary general. Far from punishing those who devise creative solutions, we must, on the contrary, do all we possibly can to favor the development of alternative sources of energy.
The current situation is deplorable and means that the Commission would effectively penalize people who take responsibility by obtaining their electricity needs from sustainable sources, he added. The Commission seems more concerned with protecting major power generators, to the detriment of the overall environment.