Infringement against five states for missing deadlines

The European Commission launched infringement procedures (reasoned opinion) against Romania, Austria, Croatia, Ireland and Latvia, as these countries failed to ensure the full transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive, Business-review.eu reported.

The directive had to be transposed into national law by June 5, 2014. If the member states do not comply with this obligation within two months, the European Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of Justice of the European Union and ask for financial penalties, the Romanian magazine’s portal said.

In the course of the second semester of 2014, the European Commission launched infringement procedures for non-transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive against 27 EU member states (all except Malta). In November it sent a reasoned opinion to Bulgaria and Hungary. In February reasoned opinions were sent to Greece and Portugal. In March, the European Commission decided to refer Hungary to court with financial penalties, as not a single transposition measure was adopted.