On Wednesday 21 January, the European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into an arbitration award ordering Bulgaria to pay ACF Renewable Energy Limited €61.04 million in compensation following changes to a support scheme for renewable energies.
Bulgaria introduced this system in 2011, then modified it in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
In 2012, ACF, a Maltese company, invested in the Bulgarian renewable energy sector by purchasing a solar photovoltaic plant that benefited from the renewable energy support scheme introduced by Bulgaria in 2011.
The award of 5 January 2024 found that Bulgaria had breached the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). The Commission considers that this compensation could constitute State aid incompatible with the EU’s internal market.
It will also examine the compliance of the award with the EU Treaties, in particular legal autonomy and the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). The case law of the CJEU (Achmea, Komstroy) prohibits intra-EU arbitration based on bilateral treaties or the ECT. The EU withdrew its signature from the ECT on 27 June 2025, reinforcing this ban. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)