Infringement procedure green energy started

Last week eight EU Member States received a letter from the European Commission because they did not meet their deadline to implement legislation concerning green power. More then two and a half years after the deadline of October 2003 the Commission started an infringement procedure. Earlier the Commission started the same procedure concerning the biofuels directive. Another four countries received letters about failures to comply with this directive. Concerning the Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, four member states (Italy, Poland, Czech Republic and United Kingdom) did not report adequately about the progress on the use of green power. Five countries (Latvia, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland and again Italy) have taken insufficient measures to promote renewable energy. Countries should have implemented legislation and administrative provisions, like a guarantee for grid access and a system for Guarantees of Origin (GoOs). Following the infringement procedure started in 2005 concerning the biofuels directive, the Commission wants to know from Finland and Denmark why their targets for 2005 were lower than the 2% target from the Directive. Italy and Luxembourg received letters about incomplete or lacking reports about 2005. While Greece, Ireland and Poland succeeded in giving satisfactory answers to questions from the Commission, the 2005 targets in Hungary, the United Kingdom and Italy are still under examination.