The European Commission on Wednesday sent a reasoned opinion to Cyprus and seven other European Union member states over their failure to transpose into their national legal systems EU laws related to the acceleration of permit granting procedures for renewable energy projects.
The commission said it “calls on” the eight member states to implement the laws, with a reasoned opinion the second in a five-step procedure the commission employs to deal with non-compliance, with member states which do not comply taken as a last resort to the European Court of Justice and issued fines.
The seven other member states to receive reasoned opinions are Bulgaria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia, and Sweden.
The laws, the commission said, provide for “new rules to simplify and shorten permit granting procedures for both renewable energy projects and infrastructure projects necessary to integrate additional capacity into the electricity system”.
It added that the directives set “clear deadlines for permit granting procedures concerning specific technologies or types of projects”, as well as introducing “a presumption that renewable energy projects, storage and related network infrastructure are of overriding public interest”.
“Member States are also required to design ‘renewable energy acceleration zones’, where projects can benefit from shorter permit granting periods, given their low environmental impact,” the commission explained.
The laws should have been implemented into all 27 EU member states’ national legal systems by July last year, with the commission having sent letters of formal notice, the first step in the five-step procedure, to 26 member states on the matter in September.
A total of 18 of those member states have since satisfied the commission’s request, with Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia, and Sweden the outstanding member states.
Those eight member states now have two months to “respond and take the necessary measures”, lest the commission “decide to refer the cases” to the European Court of Justice.
Two weeks ago, Cyprus had received seven letters of formal notice from the commission over a range of subjects, including on the directive on reporting on projected emissions of certain air pollutants and the directive on the restriction of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment
