The office of European competition commissioner JoaquínAlmunia – to the chagrin of German energy minister Sigmar Gabriel  – opened the probe in December on two grounds, the more important being the argument that thereduction in the payment of the EEG surcharge for energy-intensive companiesappears to be financed from a state resource.

Germany has always rejected that accusation on the groundsthat the EEG surcharge is not paid by the state, but by consumers on top oftheir power bills in order to finance the build-up of renewable energy.