November infringement package – key decisions on energy

In its regular package of infringement decisions, the European Commission pursues legal action against Member States for failing to comply with their obligations under EU law. These decisions, covering various sectors and EU policy areas, aim to ensure the proper application of EU law for the benefit of citizens and businesses.

In the list of November infringement decisions, there is 1 letter of formal notice and 1 additional reasoned opinion regarding energy policy. 

Letters of formal notice

Commission calls on BELGIUM, BULGARIA, CZECHIA, ESTONIA, GREECE, CROATIA, CYPRUS, MALTA, AUSTRIA, POLAND, PORTUGAL, SLOVENIA and SLOVAKIA to urgently submit their final updated National Energy and Climate Plans  
The European Commission decided to open an infringement procedure by sending a letter of formal notice to Belgium (INFR(2024)2252), Bulgaria (INFR(2024)2253), Czechia (INFR(2024)2255), Estonia (INFR(2024)2257), Greece (INFR(2024)2258), Croatia (INFR(2024)2256), Cyprus (INFR(2024)2254), Malta (INFR(2024)2259), Austria (INFR(2024)2251) Poland (INFR(2024)2260), Portugal (INFR(2024)2261), Slovenia (INFR(2024)2263) and Slovakia (INFR(2024)2262) for failing to submit their final updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) in line with the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action. The final updated NECPs are crucial tools to ensure that Member States set out a concrete roadmap to achieve the agreed EU goals for greenhouse gas emissions reduction, renewable energy and energy efficiency, among others. They are also key for the European Commission to assess where Member States stand collectively in terms of ambition towards the EU 2030 climate and energy targets. Under Article 14(2) of the Governance Regulation, all Member States had to submit their final updated NECPs by 30 June 2024. So far, the Commission has received 14 final Plans. Following extensive exchanges after the submission of draft Plans and adoption of Commission recommendations to the Member States, these 13 Member States have still not submitted their final updated NECPs. The Commission considers that they are in breach of their obligation under the Governance Regulation and is therefore sending letters of formal notice. Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia now have two months to reply to the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.

Additional Reasoned opinion

Commission urges IRELAND, SPAIN, FRANCE and HUNGARY to fully transpose the Renewable Energy Directive
Today, the European Commission decided to send additional reasoned opinions to Ireland INFR(2021)0260), Spain (INFR(2021)0220), France (INFR(2021)0238) and Hungary (INFR(2021)0256) for not having fully transposed EU rules on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources set out in Directive (EU) 2018/2001. This Directive provides the legal framework for the development of renewable energy in electricity, heating and cooling, and transport in the EU. It sets an EU-level binding target for 2030 for renewable energy and includes specific rules for guarantees of origin (GOs). GOs are electronic certificates to inform the final customers on the share of energy from renewable sources in a supplier's energy mix. The Directive further includes sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions savings criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels and rules on the verification of compliance of those fuels with these criteria. The deadline to transpose the Directive into national law was 30 June 2021. In July 2021, the Commission sent letters of formal notice to the four Member States for failing to fully transpose the Directive. As regards Ireland, Spain and France, the Commission then followed up with reasoned opinions due to their continuous failure to fully transpose the Directive and decided to refer Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union for lack of transposition of the Directive. After having examined the replies and the subsequently notified measures from the four Member States, the Commission has decided to issue additional reasoned opinions to Ireland, Spain, France and Hungary due to incomplete transposition. The reasoned opinions draw the attention on other transposition gaps regarding the provisions on guarantees of origin for energy from renewable sources, or on other transposition issues concerning the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. The four Member States now have two months to remedy the situation and notify the complete transposition of the Directive to the Commission. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

For more information on the EU infringement procedure, see the full press release and Q&A. For more detail on the history of a case, you can consult the infringement decisions' register.