The European Commission announced infringement proceedings against the Czech Republic yesterday, over the country’s failure to submit the final version of its national energy and climate plan. The Czech Republic is one of 13 countries that the European Commission says has not submitted this document.
The Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade said the document is being discussed further, and will be approved as soon as possible.
The first stage of the proceedings is to send a letter of warning. The energy and climate plans are intended to inform the Commission in particular on how the individual countries intend to contribute to the Union’s renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction targets.
“The European Commission has decided to initiate infringement proceedings by sending a formal notice to Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Malta, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Slovakia for failing to submit their final updated National Energy and Climate Plans,” the commission said. These countries now have two months to respond to the EC.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said the National Energy and Climate Plan is under further discussion within the government, regarding “the need to find a fiscally responsible approach to financing energy and climate action.” Ministry spokesman Marek Vosahlik told CTK that the aim is to submit the plan to the cabinet as soon as possible and send it to the European Commission, with which the ministry has been in regular contact.
The infringement procedure has several stages. The European Commission first sends an infringement notice to the member state in question, followed by a reasoned opinion. Only if the member state does not adequately remedy these shortcomings can the Commission decide to take the matter to the EU Court of Justice.
Last year, the Czech Republic presented the first version of its National Energy and Climate Plan to the Commission, which subsequently returned it with its own recommendations. The state’s plan envisages an increase in the share of renewable energy sources in final consumption to around 30% by 2030. The share of renewable energy should also increase in transport. The original plan also confirmed the country’s move away from coal burning by 2033.
The Czech government was supposed to deal with the plan in the summer, together with other documents such as the updated State Energy Concept and Climate Protection Policy, but this work was eventually postponed. According to some critics, the climate documents threaten the introduction of emission allowances in transport or for households facing increasing energy costs. The ministry has rejected the idea that the documents would introduce new measures to make transport or energy more expensive; after his appointment to the cabinet in October, Industry and Trade Minister Lukas Vlcek (Mayors and Independents, STAN) said that the climate documents would need to be fine-tuned.
