Governing towards Renewable Energy in the EU: Competences,Instruments,and Procedures

Abstract

This contribution maps new questions and explores potential problems in EU renewable energy law, focusing on competences, regulatory instruments and administrative procedures. The transition towards renewable energy concerns a major transformation of society, which cannot be done on a voluntary basis, and for which law, with all its complexities, has to play a crucial role. Within the EU, the need to establish renewable energy is a legally binding task for which a special legislative framework has been adopted on the basis of the environmental competence. In order to reach the 20% mark for renewable energy by 2020, dramatic action has to be conducted by Member States, and several overlaps between the EU regulatory climate and energy instruments complicate the implementation of the legislative framework further. EU renewable energy law is likely to be a tempestuous field of law with an increasing number of court cases, particularly concerning actions brought by citizens against renewable energy projects. Finally, for the period after 2020, there will be a discussion of which TFEU article could serve as the correct legal basis for any further renewable energy commitments, particularly in view of the special (but limited) energy competence introduced by the Lisbon Treaty.