Research Fund for Coal and Steel: research programme, multiannual technical guidelines

The European Parliament adopted, by 558 votes to 61 with 22 abstentions, a legislative resolution amending the proposal on the multiannual technical guidelines for the research programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, and stressed that research in "clean coal technologies" must be improved. The report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Adam GIEREK (PES, PL) on behalf of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy. 

Parliament did not accept the view of the Committee that the definition of the term 'coal' had been inappropriately broadened to include 'oil shales'. The definitions in the proposal were, accordingly, not amended.

The main amendments - adopted under the consultation procedure - were as follows: 

-a new clause states that research projects shall make coal more competitive on local energy markets, subject to efficient use being made of local coal reserves;

-projects should promote more efficient conversion of the primary energy latent in coal into other energy forms, for example through the use of conventional coal gasification and liquefaction technologies. Projects should also promote more economic and more reliable technologies;

-preference shall be given to projects integrating complementary techniques such as the adsorption of methane or carbon dioxide, coal bed methane extraction and use as an energy source, efficient coal burning in heat and electricity generation processes and unconventional underground coal gasification methods;

-Parliament also made some amendments to the Articles dealing with the research objectives for steel. Inter alia, a new clause refers to the steel castings and forgings and sintered products obtained by powder metallurgy from iron powders and ferro-alloys as semi-finished products for further processing;

-research projects must also address the design of steelstructuresthat are easy to disassemble at the end of their service life, with a view to the recovery of steel scrap and its re-conversion into usable steels;

-the Coal and Steel Advisory Groups will be independent technical advisory groups comprising appropriately qualified specialists. The Commission must ensure, within each Advisory Group, a balanced range of expertise and the broadest possible geographical and geo-economic representation, with special reference to the Member States that joined the EU in 2004 and after.