EU escalates infringement procedures over energy permit laws

The European Commission has launched legal action against eight EU member states for failing to transpose its revised renewable energy directive into national law.

The European Commission is pursuing legal action against eight EU member states over failure to take on new EU rules on accelerating permitting procedures for renewable energy projects.

The action refers to Directive (EU) 2023/2413, which set out new rules to simplify and shorten permitting procedures for renewable energy projects and introduces the presumption that renewable energy projects, storage and the related grid infrastructure are of overriding public interest.

The deadline to transpose these provisions was July 1, 2024, and in September 2024, the commission sent letters of formal notice to 26 member states for failing to fully transpose the directive into national law on time.

It has now sent reasoned opinions to Cyprus, Italy, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden for failing to notify the transposition measures, alongside reasoned opinions to Bulgaria, France and the Netherlands for failing to provide sufficiently clear and precise information on how their transposition efforts reflect each of the directive's provisions.

In a separate action commencing this month, the commission has sent reasoned opinions to Hungary and Poland for not having fully transposed EU rules for the internal electricity market as set out by Directive (EU) 2019/944.

The deadline to transpose the directive, which lays down rules regarding the organization and functioning of the EU electricity sector, into national law was Dec. 31, 2020. 

The commission has also sent additional reasoned opinions to Belgium, Estonia, Latvia and Romania to fully transpose the 2018 Renewable Energy Directive, which sets rules on the promotion of renewable energy, after deeming previous attempts to transpose the legislation as incomplete.

Across all cases lodged this month, the member states have two months to respond and take the necessary measures, after which the commission may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.