Stakeholders give their views on how a future Energy Community should
look like, 13 Mar 2015
The results of the public consultation which gathered
stakeholders’ views on options for the implementation of proposals made by the
High Level Reflection Group in its report “An Energy Community for the Future”
were published today. A total of 61 submissions was received from a wide mix of
stakeholders, including central government authorities of the Energy Community
Contracting Parties and EU Member States, regulatory authorities and their
regional associations, International Financial Institutions, economic operators
and their associations, EU bodies, Members of the European Parliament, NGOs and
civil society individuals as well as academics.
A clear majority of respondents supported additional
environmental legislation and investment enhancing measures. In addition, EU
rules on public procurement and VAT should become legally binding in the Energy
Community. Competition law enforcement should be made more operational.
The majority of stakeholders also shared the view that
the current law enforcement regime should be fundamentally changed as it cannot
adequately deter the Contracting Parties from violating Energy Community law.
Moreover, EU funding should be conditional on implementation of Energy
Community law. At the same time, Secretariat’s capacities should be
strengthened in order to provide increased assistance in implementation of
legislation and investment projects.
The Energy Community should also engage with a wider
range of stakeholders, including via a consumer platform and a parliamentary
assembly. Civil society organisations should be granted an observer seat in the
Permanent High Level Group.
The Energy Community Permanent High Level Group (PHLG)
will hold a first discussion of the results of the public consultation at its
meeting on 26 March. The PHLG will identify specific reform measures at its
next meeting in June 2015 and submit them for consideration and adoption to the
Energy Community Ministerial Council in October 2015.