Environmental accountability is a must for EU decision making on State Aid: Guide to the Public Consultation on implementation of ACCC/C/2015/128

Abstract

A UN Compliance Body, the ACCC (Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee), has said that the EU must act to increase oversight and accountability in State Aid decision making to comply with its international law obligations. The absence of mechanisms allowing NGOs and individuals to challenge decisions to offer subsidies/benefits to certain industries and projects on environmental grounds (State Aid), has left the EU in breach of international law (the Aarhus Convention UNECE 1998). The lack of environmental oversight has meant that subsidies to fossil fuel-based industries have gone unchallenged. This makes the switch to renewables less competitive. The recent gas shortage and the cost of living crisis has highlighted the other dangers of fossil fuel dependence. Such oversight is required by international and indeed, EU law. The EU Commission have opened a public consultation survey to canvass three approaches to introducing the required accountability and review mechanism. This document is a guide to navigating the survey questions.