A delegation of the National Assembly took part in the Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum virtual meeting on Wednesday, 9 December 2020. The delegation comprised: Veroljub Arsic, Chairman of the Committee on the Economy, Regional Development, Trade, Tourism and Energy, and Committee member Snezana Petrovic. The meeting was chaired by Montenegrin Parliament Speaker Aleksa Becic as representative of the Montenegrin Presidency of the Energy Community.
Janez Kopac, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, informed the parliamentarians about the Green Deal for the Energy Community and the preparation of national energy and climate plans.
Delegation member Veroljub Arsic presented the situation concerning the strategic documents which are the basis for the preparation of the National Energy and Climate Plan. He said that the Republic of Serbia has already started the reform of the policy in the field of renewable energy sources by preparing the draft of the first special Law on Renewable Energy Sources. All procedures will be accelerated, simplified and digitised. The EU Clean Energy Package and the new RED II will be transposed with the adoption of the Law on Renewable Energy Sources. This package, among other things, envisages the development of the National Energy and Climate Plan.
Snezana Petrovic presented the importance of the Agreement on the manner of financing public buildings for the energy efficiency sector in the Republic of Serbia.
As in the European Union, national energy and climate plans provide a framework for integrating energy and climate policies and for the decarbonisation process. Energy Community members are currently in different stages of preparation of national energy and climate plans, which requires consultation with all relevant stakeholders. The participants agreed that the involvement of parliaments is of key importance for this process.
In addition to the National Assembly delegation, the meeting was also attended by the Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and members of parliamentary committees in charge of energy issues from Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia.
The meeting was also attended by Janez Kopac, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, and Barbora Poyner, Communications Officer of the Energy Community Secretariat. The next meeting of the Energy Community Parliamentary Plenum will be held in April 2021 in the European Parliament in Brussels and in the fall in Belgrade, if circumstances allow.
The Republic of Serbia will preside over the Energy Community in 2021.
