From BZ/dpa
The EU Commission was irritated by a media report on planned specifications for new heating systems. It said, among other things, that almost exclusively heat pumps should be allowed when installing new heating systems.
“This report is misleading,” said a spokesman for the Commission of the German Press Agency. The Brussels authorities also say: “Our proposal is technology-neutral.”
The background is an update of an EU law. Specifically, it is about specifications for the efficiency of heating devices, which according to the draft could apply from 2029. According to this, heaters should have an efficiency of at least 115 percent.
EUHeat pump duty through the back door?
Critics see this as a heat pump obligation through the back door: “If it were up to the CDU Commission President, only heat pumps would be allowed in the future”, BILD quotes the FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr with a view to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“The Commission’s proposal to raise the value to 115 percent will phase out 100 percent gas, oil or coal-fired boilers from September 2029,” says Marco Grippa, an expert at the environmental organization ECOS. Marie-Christine Ostermann from the interest group The Family Entrepreneurs sees this as an undermining of openness to technology.
The EU Commission states that such an efficiency can already be achieved today with hybrid systems that use energy from fuels such as natural gas, biofuel or synthetic fuels as well as energy from a heat pump or solar collectors. Grippa also mentions combined heat and power, district heating or biomass heating as heat sources that are still permitted. According to the Commission, existing heating systems are not covered by the provisions.
The Brussels officials get backing from the ranks of the Greens: “We need an efficiency hammer for new heating systems,” said MEP Michael Bloss. It is correct that the EU Commission is demanding more efficient heating systems for new installations.
FDP: EU Commission wants to ban gas and oil heating
Representatives of the FDP in Germany express themselves somewhat differently: “The CDU is railing against the heating law in Berlin, but is planning much worse things in Brussels,” said FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr.
The Commission’s plan is a ban on gas and oil heating. CDU chief Friedrich Merz should speak to Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and advise her against the plans.
Union politicians, on the other hand, point out that the federal government is involved in the process of revising the regulations. “So if the FDP can’t get their way at the traffic lights in Berlin again, they should stop raising smoke screens and pointing in the direction of Brussels,” said Angelika Niebler (CSU) and Daniel Caspary (CDU), the chairmen of the CDU and CSU -Members of the European Parliament, with.
The new requirements have not yet been decided. “The draft of the EU regulation is currently still being discussed with the EU countries and associations and must be supported by a qualified majority of the member states,” said the EU Commission.