ket coal production will exceed demand by 30 million tons in oor at oe member pikes continue to subsidise their colleries <a ; current levels, according to a statement issued by the High Authority o the Buropean Coal and Steel Community last month, Effective demand = Community coal is expected to be running at 170m, tons a year by the en of the decade, while output is estimated at 200m, An excess of 10m, tons has already been forecast for this year. Producers, their governments and the High Authority are now all intensely concerned about the Buropean coal industry's declining competivity against cheap U.S. imports, oil and gas. However, as yet there is no agreement on what should be done. The colliery owners have asked the High Authority to declare an emergency situation in the industry, impose a special duty on all imports and possibly introduce a system of Community production quotas as well, there has been no official support for this idea so far.
But
In defence of their reguest, the producers point out that imports have risen from 17.7m. tons in 1960 to nearly 30m. tons in 1965, and go on to argue that the High Authority took similar steps to protect the steel industry against foreign competition in. 1963, On the other hand the High Authority feels that additional protection for coal would only raise steel costs and encourage substitution by other forms of energy, At the moment it seems most interested in using the crisis as a lever to make the member governments decide just how much coal capacity they are prepared to pay for in the future, The changing position is illustrated by a table which was published in the latest issue of European Commnity Community energy suppl Source ~ Percentage of total supply
1964 1965 1966 (estimate) Coal 41 SBE S: : 36 : Lignite 7 6 a Oil 42 45 48 Natural gas 4 4 4 Primary electricity 6 7 7 (mostly hydro-electric)
The net result of these trends is most clearly shown by what has been happening. in Belgium, Since 1958, 66 coalmines,with a total output c _ capacity of 9m. tons a year, have been closed down in Belgium. all of them in the Walloon areas in central Belgium and the Borinage area. On the other hand in the Flemish speaking area of Campine a stable workforce produced 9 to 10 million tons of coal a year. But this appearance of stability was misleading, for it was only maintained by general short-time working, rising stocks, and by direct state subsidies, ne This was the background to the decision by the Belgian Government to close the Zwartberg mine, which sparked off the riots which led to two deaths, The Belgian Government also plans, during 1966, to close down another 5 mines in the Walloon area, leading to an output reduction of one million tons, It seems likely that coal could vie with agriculture in becoming a major cause of friction between the members of the Community. The question of Britain's entry, with its excess capacity, would aggravate this problem,