SAVE II: improving energy efficiency in the Community

The Commission welcomed the choice of Article 130S as the legal basis for the proposed action and Council's acceptance of the quantifiable objective concept. However, the Commission felt that the inclusion of a "reference amount" of ECU 45 million represented a serious amendment to its proposal. The Commission had actively opposed the inclusion of any such amount and expressed its disappointment in the amount provided for, which was well below the indicative budget which it had proposed in the financial statement accompanying the proposal. The Commission had also emphasized in a statement in the minutes of the Council meeting that the existence of a reference amount had no effect on the powers of the budgetary authority. Finally, the Commission felt that action 2f (specific actions to promote energy management at regional and urban level) did not contravene the principle of subsidiarity.�