European Commission publishes draft national energy and climate plans submitted by EU member states

The European Commission (EC) has published Draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) submitted by EU Member States, including those by Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Greece, Romania, and Slovenia.

Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Greece were among 7 EU member states that failed to submit draft NECPs to the EC by the December 31, 2018 deadline. Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo*, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), as not-EU states, do not face strict deadlines but have started preparatory work.

The EC may issue recommendations to countries by June 30, 2019 to amend draft NECPs

Now that they have been submitted, the draft NECPs are being assessed by the Commission, the EC said on its website.

If an individual country’s draft NECP and its objectives, policies, and measures do not sufficiently or not consistently contribute to reaching the energy union’s objectives, or if the EU collectively does not make sufficient progress towards these objectives, the Commission may issue recommendations to countries by June 30, 2019 to amend the draft NECP.

Member States would then have until the end of 2019 to submit their final NECPs.

According to the governance of the energy union and climate action rules, which entered into force on December 24, 2018, EU countries are required to:

• develop integrated national energy and climate plans (NECPs) that cover the five dimensions of the energy union for the period 2021 to 2030 (and every subsequent ten-year period) based on a common template;
• submit a draft NECP by December 31, 2018 and be ready to submit the final plans by December 31, 2019 to the European Commission; and
• report on the progress they make in implementing their NECPs, mostly on a biennial basis.

Non-EU countries in the region – Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo*, BiH, and Serbia – have no obligation to draft NECPs.

However, in January 2018, the countries adopted the Recommendation 2018/01/MC-EnC on preparing for the development of integrated NECPs, which was previously adopted by the Ministerial Council of the Energy Community.