Was it just a newspaper hoax? The German magazine Der Spiegel has reported that the Europea Commission was about to start an investigation to decide whether exemptions for energy intensive industries from payments for renewable energy were legal. Joaquin Almunia, the commissioner for competition, repudiated the story and communicated that there would be no decision before the summer break. Der Spiegel followed up, on 22 July, with the allegation that only pressure from the German government led to the delay, for fear of a negative influence on the general elections in September.
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