Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Janez Kopac said that although Serbia has adopted several important energy laws they are not enforced in practice, adding that Energy Community has already launched several infringement procedures against the country, but no sanctions have been imposed yet.
Kopac stressed that the new chapter on energy in Serbia’s EU accession talks cannot be opened until the issue of separating the activities of stateowned gas company Srbijagas is resolved, adding that Energy Community is prepared to help the country to resolve that issue.
According to him, Serbia has almost completely transposed the third energy package into its national legislation but the adopted laws are not implemented in practice. There are also cases, such as the certification of EMS as the electricity transmission operator by Serbian Energy Regulatory Agency (AERS), where the legislation is contradictory to decisions made by the Energy Community.
Kopac reminded that the Energy Community has launched a procedure against Serbia few years ago because of non-separation of activities in stateowned Srbijagas. The Government adopted the restructuring plan for the company which was supposed to be implemented since 1 May 2017, but it did not happen.
He also pointed out that the agreement signed between Serbian electricity transmission system operator EMS and its Kosovar counterpart KOSTT is not implemented which caused negative consequences for the entire European electricity transmission system.
