Most Member States of the European Union use special fixed price or feed-in models to promote renewable energy. The promotion under the German Renewable-Energy-Sources-Act was qualified by the European Court of Justice as a mere puplic price regulation and not as subsidy. Direct discrimination against foreign products by limiting subsidy to national producers is also justified on environmental grounds. However, this justification does not apply in the case of indirect subsidisation through tax relief for producers of renewable energy. The European Court of Justice thus privileges fixed price and feed-in models over steering tax systems. This is questionable because legal protection mechanisms such as national financial constitutional law, European protection against discrimination and public subsidy law can be circumvented in this way.