Published: 2020-11-26

The Choice of Legal Grounds from the EU Environmental Legislation Affecting a Member State’s Energy Mix

Joanna Bukowska , Anna Sosnowska
Zeszyty Prawnicze
Section: Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2020.20.3.02

Abstract

It might seem that the choice of legal grounds for legislation on environmental protection is self-evident and incontestable, especially if we consider the fact that the EU has been exercising its powers in this respect for over 30 years, and has been doing so very intensively, if we are to judge by the number of legal acts it has issued to regulate matters pertaining to protection of the environment.

However, it turns out the choice of legal grounds for such legislation is not so straightforward when it comes to the conditions for the application of the special legislative procedure referred to in Article 192(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. This procedure is applicable to measures affecting a Member State’s choice of an energy mix. So far, the ECJ has not proposed a clear and coherent interpretation of Article 192(2) on guidelines to the application of the special legislative procedure. In its most recent judgement in Case C-5/16 Poland v Parliament and Council, the Court of Justice again failed to produce a convincing argument in which cases the legislator is obliged to adopt a legal act pursuant to the special legislative procedure of Article 192(2), if the given legal act concerns the Member State’s choice of an energy mix.

In this article we review earlier ECJ judgements concerning the choice of legal grounds for new legislation. We the use the results of our review as a point of reference for an analysis of the conditions for the implementation of the special legislative procedure as suggested by the ECJ in Case C-5/16.

Keywords:

The European Union; the choice of legal grounds for EU legislation; the legal grounds for EU acts on environmental policy; acts signifcantly affecting the energy mix of a Member State.

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Bukowska, J., & Sosnowska, A. (2020). The Choice of Legal Grounds from the EU Environmental Legislation Affecting a Member State’s Energy Mix. Zeszyty Prawnicze, 20(3), 35–73. https://doi.org/10.21697/zp.2020.20.3.02

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