July infringements package - Commission moves against Member States for not respecting EU Energy rules
In its July package of infringement decisions, the European Commission has this week referred Belgium to the EU Court for failing to comply with EU rules on electricity and gas markets and Italy for failure to transpose EU rules on protection against radiation. These decisions follow an insufficient response from the Member State authorities to letters of formal notice and reasoned opinions on the same questions.
In separate cases, the Commission has also decided on two reasoned opinions to Member States. (This is the second stage in the infringement process.) The Commission has sent reasoned opinions to Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom requesting the correct transposition of EU energy efficiency rules (Energy Efficiency Directive, Directive 2012/27/EU) into national law and its proper implementation. The Member States concerned now have two months to respond to the arguments put forward by the Commission. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the EU.
In the second case, the Commission has called on ROMANIA to remove barriers to exports of natural gas. This second reasoned opinion to Romania concerns the failure to eliminate restrictions on trade in natural gas between Member States as required under EU rules for the internal market in natural gas(Articles 35 and 36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, TFEU; Directive 2009/73/EC). Following a previous reasoned opinion, in July 2014, Romania amended its laws. However, after the new rules, the Commission found that an obligation to sell natural gas with priority on the Romanian market is maintained and, consequently, this violates EU law.
These Member States now have two months to respond to the arguments put forward by the Commission, otherwise, the Commission may decide to bring the matter before the Court of Justice of the EU.
The Commission also sent letters of formal notice to eight Member States (Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia) for failing to fully transpose the requirements on indirect land use change linked to sustainable biofuel production, under the biofuels directive (Directive (EU) 2015/1513), and to Malta on the reporting of energy-efficient buildings under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (Directive 2010/31/EU).
Related Links
For more detail on all the decisions taken in the July infringement cycle, see the press release, or consult the infringement decisions' register.
For more information on the EU infringement procedure, see the full MEMO/12/12.
Source: European Commission 2019