Secretariat's past reports

2020 Report: State of implementation

There are plenty of indications that the Energy Community is not stagnating but actually moving forward on the path of energy transition, and has in some cases passed the point of no return. Without a legal obligation to do so, many Contracting Parties are currently engaging in drafting integrated energy and climate plans in line with the Governance Regulation of the Clean Energy Package. Without participating in the EU’s emission trading scheme, Montenegro has developed and launched its own cap-and-trade system. With the Energy Community’s acquis on reducing pollution from coal-fired power plants not yet respected, air pollution became an important issue of public concern in many Contracting Parties. Despite not adhering to the Paris Agreement, the use of coal came closer to being abandoned in Kosovo* with the failure of the Kosovo e Re project, against which the Secretariat had opened infringement procedures. North Macedonia publicly announced a coal phaseout programme. These are encouraging signs.

2019 Report: State of implementation

In the East, the Energy Community’s largest electricity market in Ukraine made a quantum leap in moving from a non-transparent single-buyer model to a governance corresponding broadly to the European target model. Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova seems committed to follow suit with unbundling. And even Georgia, the youngest member of the Energy Community and furthest away from its geographical core, is currently engaged in implementing the acquis communautaire. That many of these reforms may be implemented with a safety brake on, and not every measure has imminent success, is bearable when considering the Communist legacy and the huge social-economic as well as geopolitical challenges of these countries.

In the Western Balkans, several power exchanges are finally expected to go live in the near future, and 2020 may indeed see the first cases of market coupling. Montenegro seems well prepared for that. In 2019, the country again made it to the top of the performance list. North Macedonia, which had fallen behind under the previous Government, made an impressive return and established itself as reform champion in all energy sectors, a performance which unfortunately was not recognized by everybody.

2018 Report: State of implementation

This year’s implementation report written by the Secretariat’s experts once again provides a true and fair view of where the Contracting Parties stand today. Over years of intensive cooperation, the Secretariat has gained the insight necessary to provide a straightforward assessment. The results highlight that the Contracting Parties have made progress in their first energy transition, but still need to catch up. The average implementation score is at around 43%, ranging from 23% (Georgia) to 61% (Montenegro).

For the third year in a row, the focus remained on the implementation of the Third Energy Package. The Secretariat continued to assist the Contracting Parties in major tasks such as unbundling and certification of transmission system operators, unbundling of distribution system operators and full market opening. In May 2018, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joined the other seven Contracting Parties which have already transposed the Third Package. With respect to the newest member of the Energy Community, Georgia, the Secretariat has intensified its efforts to support the country in order to meet the transposition deadlines set in its accession protocol.

2017 Report: State of implementation

The question whether a Contracting Party has transposed the Third Energy Package is the deciding factor for the 2017 state of implementation assessment. Whilst six of the eight Contracting Parties have successfully completed the task, the level of implementation achieved varies greatly. More than two and a half years after the transposition deadline set by the Ministerial Council, an ongoing and persistent failure to perform prevails in Bosnia and Herzegovina and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

With the exception of Serbia and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, low progress in meeting the requirements of the Oil Stocks Directive is also characteristic for all Contracting Parties. For some Contracting Parties, the national implementation radar shows negative progress, (particularly in electricity or oil) corresponding to the continuous stagnation or delays in transposition and implementation of the acquis.

Montenegro and Serbia continue to be the leaders in implementation of the sustainability policies comprising energy efficiency, renewables, environment and climate. Yet all Contracting Parties showed progress in this area, including improved transposition in the sphere of energy efficiency, with four Contracting Parties (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo* and Ukraine) having adopted primary legislation, which was so far missing. Transposition and implementation of the statistics acquis is fairly high in all Energy Community Contracting Parties.