In the absence of a satisfactory answer, the Commission may decide to send a reasoned opinion – the next step toward the infringement procedures.
The timing of the warning is a bit ironic, but at the EU level, the Union finalized its long-term strategy in 2019, long before the energy crisis prompted by the war in Ukraine.
“Stable long-term strategies are essential to help achieve the necessary economic transformation and broader sustainable development goals, as well as to make progress on the long-term climate goals set by the Paris Agreement,” the Commission said in a statement.
Through the European Climate Law, the EU enshrined in legislation the objective of climate neutrality and the clear intermediate objective of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Member States were supposed to prepare, by January 1 2020, their first long-term strategies with a perspective of at least 30 years and, thereafter, new strategies every 10 years.