The European Commission (EC) said that will take Bulgaria and Slovakia to court for failing to pass legislation on the development of renewable energy and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in line with an EU directive.
The statement from the Commissioned said that the two countries have not yet notified the EU executive of any measures taken to transpose the directive despite a formal notice and a reasoned opinion issued to both states in 2021.
The renewable energy directive, adopted in 2018, sets an EU-wide legally binding target of at least 32 % of renewable energy in total consumption by 2030. The directive also aims to increase by the end of the decade the share of renewables in the heating and cooling and transport sectors, where green energy uptake has been slower. The EU had set a deadline of 30 June 2021 for member states to transpose the original directive.
The Commission revised the directive in July 2021, lifting the initial target to 40 % as part of policy initiatives under the European Green Deal. Last May, the EU proposed another revision, in line with its REPowerEU plan developed to cut reliance on fossil fuels in the wake of Russian invasion of Ukraine war and spur on the green transition, further raising the target of renewable energy in the consumption mix to 45 % by 2030.
According to recent Eurostat data, Bulgaria registered the biggest annual drop in the share of gross final energy consumption from renewable sources, to 16.8 % in 2021 from 23.3 % in 2020.
Earlier this month, Bulgarian Parliament tasked the caretaker Government to renegotiate the its commitments under its Recovery and Resilience Plan to reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation to 40 % of 2019 values by the end of 2025.
