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November 7, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Teacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestKingspan Fine And KKR Charge Put EU Merger Control To WorkMEPs Near First Vote On EU Space Act In Parliament Industry CommitteeMercosur Safeguard Rules Let EU Curb Surges In Car And Goods ImportsMontenegro And Albania Receive EU Accession Roadmaps From CommissionHelsinki Presses Washington Over Paid-For Patriot InterceptorsMeloni Letter Exposes The EU Single Voice Problem On UkraineEmissions Trading Link Defines The EU-UK Summit Agenda For 20 NovemberAddis Ababa Talks Test The EU-African Union Partnership PlanDark Patterns Face Reform As Digital Fairness Act NearsLong-Term EU Budget Talks Face A December DeadlineReturn Hubs Plan Reshapes EU Deportation Rules After DealFishing Sector Gets Vision 2040 Fisheries Strategy With €2bn FloorNominations Open For The Next European Research Council PresidentInvestFrontier Launch Pulls Private Capital Into Humanitarian AidYoung Farmers Targeted By 10 Share In Post-2027 CAP PlanCOP17 Biodiversity Deal Leaves Nature Finance Gap OpenParliament Backs High-Speed Rail Network Linking CapitalsEnergy And Tyre Labelling Gets Simpler Rules In Council MandateEU Defence Readiness Goal For 2030 Slips Despite €418 Billion OutlayTeacher Shortages Put The EU Teachers Agenda To The TestKingspan Fine And KKR Charge Put EU Merger Control To WorkMEPs Near First Vote On EU Space Act In Parliament Industry CommitteeMercosur Safeguard Rules Let EU Curb Surges In Car And Goods ImportsMontenegro And Albania Receive EU Accession Roadmaps From CommissionHelsinki Presses Washington Over Paid-For Patriot InterceptorsMeloni Letter Exposes The EU Single Voice Problem On UkraineEmissions Trading Link Defines The EU-UK Summit Agenda For 20 NovemberAddis Ababa Talks Test The EU-African Union Partnership PlanDark Patterns Face Reform As Digital Fairness Act NearsLong-Term EU Budget Talks Face A December DeadlineReturn Hubs Plan Reshapes EU Deportation Rules After DealFishing Sector Gets Vision 2040 Fisheries Strategy With €2bn FloorNominations Open For The Next European Research Council PresidentInvestFrontier Launch Pulls Private Capital Into Humanitarian AidYoung Farmers Targeted By 10 Share In Post-2027 CAP PlanCOP17 Biodiversity Deal Leaves Nature Finance Gap OpenParliament Backs High-Speed Rail Network Linking CapitalsEnergy And Tyre Labelling Gets Simpler Rules In Council MandateEU Defence Readiness Goal For 2030 Slips Despite €418 Billion Outlay

Indirect Emission Costs Aid Climbs To 80 Percent In Four States

Ingvar Lemarquis
Policy Monitor, Competition and Antitrust

Bratislava: The Commission has approved changes to four national schemes that compensate industry for indirect emission costs, the higher electricity prices that follow from carbon charges under the EU emissions trading system. Brussels Times reported the approvals on 30 July 2026 for Czechia, France, the Netherlands and Slovakia. The changes follow revised ETS State aid guidelines that the Commission adopted in December 2025.

Three schemes raise the maximum aid intensity from 75 percent to 80 percent of eligible indirect emission costs. Czechia, the Netherlands and Slovakia all use the higher ceiling, which lets governments cover a larger share of the electricity cost that companies pass through from carbon pricing. Czechia and the Netherlands also extend their schemes to additional industrial sectors listed in the updated guidelines.

The Netherlands shows the largest budget change. Its scheme grows from EUR 834.6 million to EUR 3.7 billion, an increase of roughly 4.4 times. Slovakia raises its budget from EUR 250 million to EUR 710 million, but it also removes oil and gas companies, which it previously covered. Those firms lose access to compensation for indirect emission costs under the amended scheme.

France takes a narrower step. It extends its scheme to the additional sectors, but only for 2025, and the report gives no amount or aid intensity for the change. The Commission lists the cases as SA.123662 for Czechia, SA.122969 for France, SA.122999 for the Netherlands and SA.123428 for Slovakia. It will publish the non-confidential decisions in its State aid register once confidentiality issues are resolved.

Several questions remain open. The report names no officials, quotes nobody and gives no individual decision dates. It also does not say how many companies will receive aid. Readers should check the register entries for the exact conditions, because a scheme budget is only a ceiling and not a payment, and the amounts that companies actually receive will depend on their electricity use, their sector and the national rules that govern each claim.

Competition lawyers will watch how far governments use the higher ceiling for indirect emission costs, since each increase in aid intensity shifts more of the carbon cost from companies to taxpayers and tests the limits of the single market’s subsidy rules. Generous compensation protects energy-intensive firms from relocating, yet it also lets richer states support their industries more than poorer ones can afford. The register publication and the next round of national notifications will show whether the 80 percent rule narrows or widens that gap across the single market.

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