The Role and Competence of the EU in the Area of Supportive Financing Policies for Renewable Energy Projects

Abstract

In spite of the increasing interest of the supranational legal order in the field of energy policy, and the insertion of the specific energy legal basis of art. 194 in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the extent of the Union power to eventually intervene and impact on national renewable ener-gy support policy choices is blurry. Delineating the limits of this competence is very important at a time of unprecedented and increasingly complicated challenges, such as the combination of the aggravation of the climate emergency and the energy security crisis. This situation necessitates the completion of the European integration of energy policies and triggers thorough reforms. Accordingly, this Article puts forward the question, does the EU have the competence to elaborate on the field of supportive financ-ing of renewable energy projects? The Article shows the persisting need to support renewable energy projects and investigates the expected benefits from an intensification of the EU intervention in na-tional renewable energy support regimes towards more homogeneity. Further, it dissects art. 194 TFEU with the aim to identify the appropriate legal basis for measures of renewable energy support policy, and investigates the scope of the relevant EU competence, as well as the legal and political limits that affect its exercise.