EC warns Romania about lack of long-term strategy on energy and climate

The European Commission (EC), on September 29, sent letters of formal notice to Bulgaria, Ireland, Poland, and Romania for failing to notify their long-term national strategies under Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 on the governance of the energy union and climate action.

In the absence of a satisfactory answer, the Commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion - the next step toward the infringement procedures.

The timing of the warning is a bit ironic, but at the EU level, the Union finalized its long-term strategy in 2019, long before the energy crisis prompted by the war in Ukraine.

"Stable long-term strategies are essential to help achieve the necessary economic transformation and broader sustainable development goals, as well as to make progress on the long-term climate goals set by the Paris Agreement," the EC said in the statement.

Through the European Climate Law, the EU enshrined in legislation the objective of climate neutrality and the clear intermediate objective of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Member States were supposed to prepare, by January 1 2020, their first long-term strategies with a perspective of at least 30 years and, thereafter, new strategies every 10 years.

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