The European Parliament backs another 20,000 million to accelerate the transition and reduce dependence on Russia

Spain would be responsible for about 2,600 million of these new resources, which are part of the REPowerEU plan.

The European Parliament has endorsed the legislative proposal for subsidies or investments for the climate transition and reducing Russia’s dependence on fuels. There will be an additional €20 billion, which is part of the REPowerEU Plan. Spain would correspond to about 2,600 million of these new resources.

MEPs approved the report setting out the European Parliament’s negotiating position with the Member States. Specifically, 471 votes in favour, 90 against and 53 abstentions.

In line with the Twenty-seven, the European Parliament wants the additional 20,000 million euros in direct transfers to come from the advance sale of emission rights of the CO2 emissions trading system (the ETS system) and not from using rights from the reserve of this mechanism, as proposed by Brussels.

Resources would be distributed among community partners based on: their energy dependency ratio; the increase in energy costs for households observed in recent months; and the share of fossil fuels in energy consumption.

Other decisions of the European Parliament

A distribution key was also agreed. What corresponds to Spain would be an allocation of about 2,600 million euros, the third largest beneficiary.

To that figure should be added the 7,700 million more in direct aid that corresponds to the final calculation of the recovery fund. Also, the 85,000 million in credits.

Regarding the policies to finance with these funds, the European Parliament asks that those adopted since February 1, 2022 can be covered. In addition, that the actions of the new chapters of recovery plans give priority to investments to combat energy poverty of: households, SMEs and microenterprises.

The European Parliament also calls on the Twenty-seven to: at least 35% of their expenditure in the chapters of REPowerEU be allocated to measures with a multinational dimension or effect.

Entry into force

The entry into force of the regulation depends on the European Parliament and the Member States reaching an agreement. They hope to achieve this by the end of the year. According to Romanian MEP Siegfried Muresan:

“We will start the trilogues (three-way negotiations) next week. The divergences and differences with the member states are not great this time, the goal is to finish by the end of the year.”

For her part, the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, stressed in the same appearance that “there can be no delays.” He believes that “vulnerable households and SMEs need support sooner rather than later”.

The Maltese also stressed that this regulation “has the potential to become a turning point” if it is executed “well in the short and long term”.

Source: EnergyNews