On Thursday 17 November, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Slovenia, calling upon the country to comply with a provision of Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency – more specifically, Article 1, paragraph 1 – which required the member states to carry out and submit to the Commission a full assessment of the potential for the application of high-efficiency cogeneration and efficient district heating and cooling networks before 31 December 2015.
Under this provision, the member states must take appropriate measures to allow the development of efficient heating/cooling and/or high-efficiency cogeneration infrastructure and the use of heating and cooling from waste heat and renewable energy sources. So far, Slovenia has still not communicated its assessment of this potential.
Ljubljana now has two months to notify the Commission of the measures taken to remedy the situation. If it misses this deadline, it may end up being referred to the Court of Justice of the EU. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)