The gas lobby has been putting pressure on MEPs to keep boilers receiving subsidies, as received by the public. Until now, boilers have received public subsidies in Europe, but because of the energy transition they have had a debate in the European Parliament to reduce the use of natural gas. During this time, the gas industry lobby has been in contact with a number of MEPs who have not registered such meetings.

Liquid Gas Europe is the European association of boiler distributors, producers and LPG groups. Since April 2020 there have been no meetings with MEPs, but Better Without Boilers (BWB) reports that they have met in “low-level” meetings with undeclared European representatives.

The honourable Member has pressed gas lobbies through the Futures Rural platform. This platform is a project within Liquid Gas Europe, but its activity is not recorded by collective pressure from Brussels or by its meetings with European officials. Sources from the European Parliament have explained that unregistered contacts between politicians and entrepreneurs are legal, but have recognised the need for greater control over collective pressures.

These lobbies have tried to differentiate the energy transition between cities and rural areas. They consider that it should continue to be the subject of state aid, since the removal of boilers in these areas would entail significant economic expenditure.

According to information filtered by BWB, the gas industry has also organised events and conferences to which they have invited European politicians. These include the Irish MEP Sean Kelly, who reported in the negotiations on the Energy Efficiency Directive, and Franc Bogovi, a Slovenian MEP from the Christian Democratic Party. Both have participated in meetings organised by the European gas industry and have defended the industry’s main positions in the negotiations.

Accepted industrial requirements

In the directive adopted in the European Parliament on Tuesday, the management has adopted a number of demands from the gas industry. From 2024 onwards, natural gas boilers will not be subject to public subsidy, but “hybrid” boilers will. Such boilers combine gas with alternative fuels such as hydrogen, biogas or energy produced from renewable sources. Environmental and consumer protection associations have opposed this measure.

As explained by Public, the sources that have known the negotiations have pointed out that the negotiations have been "complicated" and that there have been many views "in almost all political parties". However, they say that some of the demands of the gas industry have been removed. For example, do not apply the rules to single-family homes. "This would exclude all neighbourhoods and villages from the rural core from energy transition obligations."