Bosnia and Herzegovina must adopt gas law with state level competences
26 Feb 2015
Addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina on 25 February, Mr Kopač presented the current activities of the Energy Community, focusing on the state of implementation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s obligations under the Energy Community Treaty. “The most urgent issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina is the adoption of a Third Energy Package gas law, which envisages competences of authorities on state level”, Mr Kopač stressed. “This is important not just to close the ongoing dispute settlement procedure, but most importantly to ensure the proper development of the gas sector, which will work to the benefit of energy consumers”.
Mr Kopač explained that Bosnia and Herzegovina is falling behind other Energy Community Contracting Parties in many other areas including energy efficiency, renewables and oil stocks. This is principally due to the fact that compliance with Energy Community law requires the establishment of state-level institutions. Yet some progress has been made during the past year, most notably Bosnia and Herzegovina’s participation in the Coordinated Auction Office for South East Europe (SEE CAO).
In his concluding remarks, the message of Mr Kopač was: “The Energy Community is a waiting room for accession to the European Union in the energy sector and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s accession will not be possible without respecting the Energy Community Treaty first.”