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EUROPEAN COMMISSION SENDS REASONED OPINIONS TO FOUR MEMBER STATES
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On 20 November the Commission sent a Reasoned Opinion to Portugal, Slovakia, Finland
and the United Kingdom for failure to communicate the full transposition of the 2004
Cogeneration Directive. On the eve of the Copenhagen summit COGEN Europe presses the
Commission to step up pressure on Member States to take action on the immediate gains in
CO2 reduction possible from cogeneration.
The four Member States now have two months to take the necessary measures to comply
with the Reasoned Opinion. After that, the Commission can decide to bring the case before
the European Court of Justice. "It is very disappointing that four Member States have
received final warnings and COGEN Europe wants to see the Commission starting to take
even tougher action”, Fiona Riddoch, Managing Director COGEN Europe says.
“Cogeneration hugely improves the fuel efficiency and lowers CO2 emissions in the power
sector. Europe should be taking a strong line on Energy Efficiency implementation and
championing technology solutions like cogeneration at Copenhagen".
Member States had until 21 February 2006 to transpose the rules of the Cogeneration
Directive into national legislation. The Reasoned Opinion is the second step in the
infringement procedure. COGEN Europe points to the overall slow and problematic
transposition process of Directive 2004/8/EC on the promotion of cogeneration based on a
useful heat demand in the internal energy market and amending Directive 92/42/EEC as
jeopardising Europe’s critical short term actions on Climate Change.
COGEN Europe is currently monitoring the implementation of the Directive into national
legislation under the CODE project. CODE (Cogeneration Observatory and Dissemination
Europe) is an EU wide independent assessment of the progress of the Directive and
preliminary results show an overall delay in reporting by the Member States
COGEN Europe and the IEA will be presenting on cogeneration at the Bright Green Event in
Copenhagen on the 12th and 13th of December (GE stand) and will draw attention to the still
untapped cogeneration potential in Europe. Both organisations will be advocating more rapid
and focused action by the Commission and Member States on growing the cogeneration
sector in Europe
The European association for the promotion of cogeneration
Avenue des Arts 3-4-5 · B-1210 Brussels · Belgium
Tel: +32 2 772 82 90 · Fax: +32 2 772 50 44 · Email: info@cogeneurope.eu · Website: www.cogeneurope.eu
For more information please contact:
Dr Fiona Riddoch, Managing Director
Tel: +32 2 772 8290
Fax: + 32 2 772 5044
Email: fiona.riddoch@cogeneurope.eu
Stefan Craenen, Communication Manager
Tel: +32 2 772 8290
Fax: + 32 2 772 5044