The European Commission has decided to send letters of formal notice to Ireland, Bulgaria Estonia, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Austria, Slovakia and Finland for breaching the Methane Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 by failing to appoint, and notify to the Commission, a competent authority responsible for monitoring and enforcing the application of the rules.
The EU Methane Regulation tackles methane emissions in the crude oil, natural gas and coal sectors. It aims to improve measurement and reporting of methane emissions in the EU, to foster their abatement, and to increase transparency in the EU and globally. It also incentivises the EU’s international partners to measure, report and reduce their methane emissions. Member States had to notify to the Commission the names and contact details of their competent authorities by 5 February 2025. the Commission notes that the Member States in question have still not fulfilled this obligation. The Commission is therefore sending letters of formal notice to Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Lithuania, Austria, Slovakia and Finland, which now have two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the Commission. In the absence of a satisfactory response, the Commission may decide to issue a reasoned opinion.
Meanwhile, the European Commission sent reasoned opinions to Ireland, Latvia and Portugal for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised Renewable Energy Directive related to the simplification and acceleration of permitting procedures. The amending Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/2413, amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001) entered into force in November 2023 and certain provisions had to be transposed into national law by 1 July 2024.
These provisions aim to simplify and accelerate permitting procedures both for renewable energy projects and for the infrastructure projects which are necessary to integrate the additional capacity into the electricity system. They include clear time limits for permit-granting procedures targeted to specific technologies or types of projects, the strengthening of the role of the single contact point for applications and the presumption that renewable energy projects and the related grid infrastructure are of overriding public interest. In September 2024, the Commission sent letters of formal notice to 26 Member States for failing to fully transpose the Directive into national law.
After having examined the transposition measures notified by Ireland, Latvia and Portugal, the Commission has concluded that the three Member States have not yet fully transposed the provisions related to the simplification and acceleration of permitting procedures. The Commission is therefore sending reasoned opinions to these three Member States, which now have two months to respond and take the necessary measures to complete the transposition. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the cases to the Court of Justice of the European Union with a request to impose financial sanctions.