Energy, EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation

This meeting came after a common letter sent to the Commission by the attorneys Mr. Piet Holtrop, of Holtrop S.L.P, Mr. Sandis Bertaitis, of FORT and Mr. Antonis Metaxas, of Metaxas & Associates, in which they manifested their common concern for the cutbacks to renewable energies support schemes.

During the meeting, the Commission recognized that the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU in the case IBV (Case C-195/12, Industrie du bois de Vielsalm & Cie (IBV) SA v Région wallonne, of 26 September 2013) represented a change in relation to its previous position towards the application of EU law to support schemes implemented by Member States. Hence, the Commission is currently studying the scope of the reevaluation.

Furthermore, DG Energy has officially asked the legal services of the Commission for the exact implications of the IBV Judgment and an answer is to be expected before the end of the year.

Following the reevaluation, the open complaints before the Commission in relation to States implementing support schemes might need to be reconsidered under the new criteria (CHAP (2012)03350, CHAP(2013)00737, CHAP(2013)01105, CHAP(2013)01125, CHAP (2013)00409, CHAP (2013)03350 and SA.36190 (2013/CP).

The attorneys will have a follow up with the Commission legal services to keep them informed on the outcome of the consultation to the legal services.