The European Commission has launched new legal steps against several EU countries over delays in turning agreed energy rules into national law, including referrals to the Court of Justice of the European Union, according to its latest package of infringement decisions.
In the April list, the Commission issued two “reasoned opinions” — a formal warning that a country is failing to comply with EU law — and made one set of court referrals in the energy area, the EU executive revealed on Thursday.
The Commission sent reasoned opinions to Croatia, Poland and Portugal for not notifying national measures to implement updated EU rules on electricity market design set out in Directive (EU) 2024/1711, it said.
Member states had to notify the transposition of most of the directive by 17 January 2025, with some provisions due by 17 July 2026.
Croatia, Poland and Portugal now have two months to respond and take the necessary measures, or the Commission may refer their cases to the EU court and seek financial sanctions.
Court action over renewable energy rules
The Commission also sent a reasoned opinion to Hungary over alleged breaches of the ban on “intra-EU investor-State arbitration” — legal proceedings where an investor from one EU country sues another EU country outside the EU court system — following case-law from the Court of Justice, it said.
The Commission linked the case to actions by the Hungarian state-controlled company MOL and firms it controls, including seeking enforcement of an arbitral award and starting a new arbitration procedure against another EU member state under Article 26 of the Energy Charter Treaty.
Separately, the Commission decided to refer Greece, Malta and Portugal to the Court of Justice for failing to fully transpose parts of Directive (EU) 2023/2413 on promoting energy from renewable sources.
Greece and Portugal have not notified any transposition measures, while Malta has not provided sufficiently clear and precise information on how it has transposed the directive.
The renewable energy directive was adopted in 2023, and countries had to notify transposition by 21 May 2025, with some permitting-related provisions due by 1 July 2024.
