EU allows aid to limit CO2 cost for big power users

Oliver Bell, the president of Eurometaux, the European Association of Metals, said: "’We are disappointed that the EU Commission is not using this opportunity to halt the de-industrialization of Europe, prevent job-losses and thereby also reduce EU’s increased dependency on imports of strategic metals. Once closed, these smelters will never come back to Europe.’’ 

Their concerns were echoed by the European Aluminium Association who issued a statement saying: "The new guidelines published today... will fail in their objective to prevent carbon leakage as they will not provide the necessary support for Europe’s primary aluminium industry. The European aluminium industry urges the European Commission to encourage Member States to employ additional means to secure the industry competitiveness and prevent carbon leakage."

European Commission Vice-President in charge of competition policy, Joaquín Almunia, said: "If production shifts from the EU to third countries with less environmental regulation , this could undermine our objective of a global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. There may be such a risk in some sectors, given the expected impact of the ETS on electricity costs as from 2013. The rules adopted today allow Member States to address this issue while maintaining incentives to decarbonise production and consumption and minimising any distortions of competition."