Dilemmas on the Way to a New Renewable Energy Directive

Abstract

In 2016 the Commission put forward a Proposal for a revised Renewable Energy Directive for the period 2020 to 2030. This article focuses on the dilemmas on the way to this new Renewable Energy Directive, as reflected by the Commission's Proposal, but also by the European Parliament's amendments that followed in January 2018. Within this context, the Renewable Energy Directive currently in force is analyzed with the help of recent case law, and two core dilemmas are identified, to wit 1) whether the new RE target should be merely determined at the EU level or it should also be translated into national binding targets and 2) whether RE support schemes should be harmonised and open to other Member States.