EU urges Croatia to fully transpose renewable energy directive

Croatia now has two months to respond and take the necessary measures, the Commission said in a press release about its May infringements package on Thursday. Otherwise, the Commission may decide to refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union, it added.

This directive provides the legal framework for the development of renewable energy in the EU. It sets an EU-level binding target for 2030 of at least 32% of energy from renewable sources in the Union's gross final consumption of energy, as well as specific targets for the heating, cooling and transport sectors, the Commission said in a press release. It also facilitates the participation of citizens in the clean energy transition.

The deadline to transpose the directive into national law was June 30, 2021. In July 2021, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice to Croatia followed by a reasoned opinion in May 2022. In February 2023, the Commission decided to refer Croatia to the Court of Justice of the European Union for lack of transposition of the directive, in particular for having failed to notify a correlation table or explanatory document specifying where the country had transposed each provision. After reception of a correlation table from Croatia, the Commission decided to suspend the procedure before the Court. Following the assessment of the table, the Commission came to the conclusion that the transposition of the Directive is still not complete.