Democratic Oversight for Counter-terrorism Sanctions in the EU

Alexander Kolev

4th Year LLB student, University of Aberdeen

 

This article examines the legal framework for the adoption of restrictive measures against individuals in the European Union, specifically in the context of the Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy and its counter-terrorism agenda. Economic sanctions like trade bans, prohibition of capital and service transactions, and interdiction of transport and communications are widely used by countries to exercise pressure and produce a change in the political behavior of another state or group of states.[1] ‘Smart’ or ‘targeted’ sanctions, on the other hand, have as their objective specific natural or legal persons rather than the population as a whole and can vary from sectoral embargoes and visa bans to the freezing of financial assets. Such sanctions have not been limited in their use to the exercise of pressure on a state but have also been deployed as a primary tool to combat terrorist groups.[2]

 

The European Union has fully adopted these trends in international sanctions but the regime has been under attack in the EU courts for the past 8 years in the Kadi litigation.[3] One of the most contentious issues has been whether there exists a legal basis in the Treaties that permits such measures in the Union. In other words, have the Union’s institutions, and most significantly the Council of Ministers, acted outside their jurisdiction on the international scene and infringed the values of democracy and the rule of law that are the building blocks of the EU?[4]

 

Introduction

The Kadi cases have been the most prominent external actions cases at the EU courts in the past decade. They trace back to 1999 when the Security Council (SC) imposed ‘smart’ sanctions on individuals and private entities associated with Bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban.[5] In order to implement the ‘targeted’ sanctions system in the EU, the Council of Ministers adopted Regulation 881/2002, which has been contested on multiple grounds in the courts in Luxembourg (the latest and final judgment in Kadi II was delivered on July 18th).[6]

 

An intriguing aspect of the cases concerns what the legal basis is (the Article(s) in the Treaties) for the adoption of restrictive measures because it largely determines the decision-making process for the legislation.[7] Consequently, this has a direct bearing on the level of inter-institutional scrutiny and review of these sanctions. Throughout the life of the Kadi saga, the question has ultimately boiled down to how measures against terrorists should be understood – are they a matter of international security and foreign relations or are they a tool to defend the internal security of the EU? I will explain this point in more detail below.

 

The regime for economic sanctions prior to the Lisbon Treaty

The European Union operates under a rule of law, which means that any action for the adoption of a given policy must have a legal basis in the Treaties.[8] This ensures that the law-creation process is founded in texts that have been approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU member countries. The rationale for the choice of the legal basis of Regulation 881/2002 was the matter of departing considerations by the General Court, Advocate General Maduro, and the CJEU in the Kadi I cases.[9]

 

The sanctions regime under the Maastricht Treaty, which applied at the time the measures were implemented against Mr. Kadi, did not include any specific provisions for the adoption of ‘smart sanctions’ against individuals. Therefore, the regime was developed on the basis of Article 301(1) EC and 60(1) EC. Together they provided that the interruption or reduction of economic sanctions with third countries in the framework of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is to be decided by the Council on a proposal from the Commission.[10] However, the two provisions only allowed for measures to be taken against entities or persons, who physically controlled part of the territory or effectively controlled the government apparatus.

 

By January 2002 the Taliban regime had fallen, which meant that the sanctions were levied on individuals who were not part of the ruling government and in direct control of the territory. The already very expansive reading of Articles 301 and 60 EC could not accommodate this crucial factor without becoming even more obscure and uncertain.

 

This is why the European Commission proposed to rely on Article 308 EC (now 352 TFEU). Article 308 EC offered valuable legislative power where the Union did not have express authority to create laws. This provision was an easy solution to complement the limited express provisions on external relations in the early stages of the European integration process.[11] Weiler argues that only a radical and creative reading of the article could justify its usage and that its wide reading, in which all the institutions took part, meant that it was virtually impossible to find an activity that could not be brought within the objectives of the Treaty.[12] Nonetheless, Article 308 EC was regularly used to significantly develop the power of the Union in fighting the war on terrorism by permitting the Council of Ministers to make sanctions decisions. Both the General Court and the CJEU in Kadi I agreed that EU had the competence to adopt ‘smart’ sanctions on the joint basis of Articles 60, 301 and 308 EC.[13]

 

The regime for economic sanctions after the Lisbon Treaty

The legal basis disputes in the Kadi I litigation foreshadowed numerous reforms in the EU’s external action that were introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. Article 75 TFEU now explicitly allows the EU to freeze the funds of individuals in order to prevent and combat terrorism and attain the objectives of Article 67 TFEU, which states that, ‘The Union shall constitute an area of security, freedom and justice with respect for fundamental rights and the different legal systems and traditions of the Member State’. Such measures must be adopted under an ordinary legislative procedure, which includes the European Parliament – the only democratically-elected EU institution – and the Council of Ministers. Alternatively, under Article 215(2) TFEU, the Council can implement measures, ‘for the interruption or reduction, in part or completely, of economic and financial relations with one or more third countries’. This power is exercised only in the context of the CFSP and the Council of Ministers can adopt a unanimous decision on a joint proposal from the High Representative and the Commission. Notably, the European Parliament is merely informed about a Regulation imposing ‘targeted’ sanctions under Article 215(2) TFEU.

 

What is evident from the wording of the provisions is that the legislator took pains to differentiate between two factual situations. On the one hand, Article 75 TFEU specifically relates to combating terrorism through the freezing of funds. It confers to the Parliament and the Council to take measures to protect the citizens of the EU and their fundamental freedoms. On the other hand, Article 215 TFEU is vague as to its objectives and relates primarily to the monetary relations between the Union and third countries. A year after the Lisbon Treaty came into force, the Parliament brought an action for the annulment of Regulation 881/2002, which was based on Article 215 TFEU.

 

In that case, Parliament v Council, the CJEU explicitly considered the level of institutional scrutiny and review that should be provided when implementing ‘smart’ sanctions on EU level. The Parliament argued that since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU can adopt measures concerning fundamental rights only under the ordinary legislative procedure or with the consent of the Parliament, ‘The Treaty of Lisbon reflects the intention of the Member States to enhance the democratic nature of the European Union. It responds to an urgent need to provide for parliamentary scrutiny of listing practices’.[14] The Council argued that the Parliament’s argument is contradicted by Article 215(3) TFEU, which provides that any acts under the provisions ‘shall’ include legal safeguards, which is a clear indication that such acts can also interfere with fundamental rights. Advocate General Bot held that the Parliament’s involvement in CFSP matters relating to imposing ‘smart’ sanctions is not critically obliterated if the Council decides to take the matters in the area of CFSP. In particular, she pointed to the obligations of the High Representative to, ‘regularly consult the (…) Parliament on the main aspects and the basic choices of the CFSP and inform it of how those policies evolve. He shall ensure that the views of the (…) Parliament are duly taken into consideration’. Ultimately, she argued that ‘the importance of combating terrorism is such that every legal instrument available to the European Union under the Treaties must be mobilized’. The Advocate General’s opinion was another manifestation of the continued spirit of extension on the powers of authorities to tackle terrorism, even at the cost of overlooking the democratic review of such sanctions.

 

In that same spirit, The CJEU said, ‘Given that terrorism constitutes a threat to peace and international security, the object of actions undertaken by the Union in the sphere of the CFSP (…) can be to combat terrorism’. Thus, it was held that terrorism is the exclusive domain of the CFSP and the regulation was rightly adopted on the basis of Article 215(2) TFEU. The CJEU admitted that participation by the Parliament in the legislative process is the reflection of the fundamental democratic principle that the people should participate in the exercise of power through the intermediary of a representative assembly. However, the differences in the Parliament’s involvement are the result of the express choice made by the framers of the Treaty of Lisbon to confer it a more limited role.

 

The judgment highlighted how eager the CJEU was to recognize the new expansions of authority that the Lisbon Treaty conferred to the EU’s external actions policy framework, at the same time disregarding the Parliament. One gets easily overwhelmed by the multiple cross-references and broad interpretations that the Court and Advocate General invoke to codify counter-terrorism measures as laying in the province of the Union’s CFSP, despite there being no mention of ‘terrorism’ in Article 215(2) TFEU. Other issues that were left unanswered are, for example, in what cases does terrorism fall outside the CFSP, and accordingly Article 215(2), and within the ambit of Article 75 TFEU. In other words, in what situations was Article 75 TFEU designed to kick in? Even more worryingly, it remained unclear what legal basis would purely EU-internal terrorist groups attract.

 

Advocate General Bot’s opinion in Kadi II

Advocate General Bot’s opinion in Kadi II demonstrated how the ‘war on terrorism’ agenda that the CJEU embraced in European Parliament v Council could be naturally taken one step further to limit further the level of review of ‘smart’ sanctions but this time targeting the judiciary instead. Advocate General Bot stated that the fight against terrorism cannot lead democracies to disregard the rule of law and yet, they should be able to make changes to such fundamental principles.[15] She argued that there are exceptions to the doctrine of full judicial review in the EU and that measures taken to assist the fight against terrorism should be left outside the scope of the EU courts. Finally, she stated that the Union’s judiciary must not become a forum for appeals against decisions taken by the UN Sanctions Committee and that the most effective way to balance the objective of combating terrorism and optimal protection of the fundamental rights of listed person is to develop cooperation between the EU and the UN.

 

In the final chapter of the Kadi saga, the CJEU dismissed the appeals by the Commission and Council in Kadi II and declared that the EU courts have the power to conduct a full judicial review of SC sanctions.[16] It thus dismissed Bot’s opinion that it should restrict its review in ‘smart’ sanctions cases or in fact any cases that deal with the Union’s CFSP policy and program on the war on terrorism. The court repeated to a great extent the mantra of its supremacy and the existence of the, ‘constitutional guarantee in a Union based on the rule of law [of] judicial review of the lawfulness of all European Union measures’. It can only observed at this point how little of the Court’s vigor to re-ascertain its own institutional powers was ever employed to protect the other values the Union is founded on like democratic decision-making for instance.

 

Conclusion

The list of countries, whose individuals’ assets have been frozen by the EU is currently 45.[17] Only in Syria, there are 179 people and 54 companies under the ‘smart’ sanctions regime.[18] Each person on these lists might potentially have suffered from the same breaches of human rights as Mr. Kadi – the rights to be heard, to effective judicial review, and the right to respect for property. Placing the enactment of such regulations within the ambit of the CFSP has circumvented the European Parliament in order to ensure a swift procedure to react to urgent developments. It has undoubtedly provided the EU with the tools to effectively penalize hostile regimes around the world. However, asset freezing is considered by many a ‘civil death penalty’, destroying the lives and reputation of individuals, turning them into outlaws with no rights and no means to defend themselves. In their efforts to tackle terrorism and ascertain the EU as a strong player on the international scene, the Commission and the Council of Ministers have been ready to found such destructive powers on ambiguous provisions, acting against the rule of law and democracy pillars these same institutions were created to protect and enforce.

 


[1] P Koutrakos, Trade, Foreign Policy & Defence in EU Constitutional Law (Oxford, 2011) 50.

[2] See most recently Council Decision 2013/395 of 25 July 2013, which added the military wing of Hezbollah to the list of designated terrorist organizations and asset freezing list.

[3] Case C-584/10 Commission v Kadi (General Court, 30 September 2010)

[4] Consolidated Version of the Treaty on European Union [2008] OJ C115/13, Article 2.

[5] United Nations Sanctions 1267 (Security Council), S/RES/1267 (1999), <http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1267(1999)> (accessed May 25, 2013).

[6] Council Regulation (EC) 881/2002 of 27 May 2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban [2002] OJ L139/9. For a history of all the cases see Joris Larik, ‘Two Ships in the Night or in the Same Boat Together: How the ECJ Squared the Circle and Foreshadowed Lisbon in its Kadi Judgment’ (2010) 13 Yearbook of Polish European Studies 149.

[7] Joint Cases C-402/05 and C-415/05 Kadi and Al Barakaat v Council and Commission [2008] ECR I-06351.

[8] Case 242/87, Commission v. Council (ERASMUS) [1989] ECR 1425, 1452.

[9] C-415/05 Kadi and Al Barakaat v Council and Commission [2008] ECR I-06351, Opinion of AG Maduro.

[10] Case T-315/01 Kadi v Council and Commission [2005] ECR II-03649, para 6.

[11] Peter Van Elsuwege, ‘The Adoption of “Targeted Sanctions” and the Potential for Inter-institutional Litigation after Lisbon’ (2011) 7(4) Journal of Contemporary European Research 488, at p.491.

[12] J. H. H. Weiler, ‘The transformation of Europe’ (1991) 100(8) The Yale Law Journal 2403, at p.2445.

[13] See above (note vi), paras 123-133 in the General court; para 212 in the CJEU.

[14] Case C-130/10 European Parliament v Council of the European Union (CJEU, 19 July 2012), Opinion of AG Bot, para 44.

[15] Case C-584/10 Commission v Kadi (General Court, 30 September 2010), Opinion of AG Bot, para 6.

[16] Case C-584/10 Commission v Kadi (Court of Justice of the EU, 18 July 2013), not yet published.

[18] <http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/syria.htm> accessed 21 May 2013.

Energy Efficiency in EU law: A Conundrum?

 

Gianni Lo Schiavo

LL.M., College of Europe

PhD Candidate, the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London

 

1. Introduction

Energy efficiency constitutes the third pillar of the “20+20+20” initiative of 2009 aimed at reforming climate change and energy policy by 2020 in the European Union (EU)[1]. The adoption of the Commission’s proposal on a directive for energy efficiency by the Council in October 2012[2] and its publication on 14 November 2012[3] are the ultimate achievements of the EU in the field of energy efficiency.

The Directive repeals two directives on energy efficiency[4] and is intended to attain the target of “20% primary energy savings in 2020”.[5]

This article aims at analysing the most important developments contained in the Directive, taking into account their impact in light of the 2020 target.

 

2. Energy efficiency and EU law

Energy efficiency is not defined in the European Treaties. The only reference to it is contained under the new Article 194 TFEU included by the Lisbon Treaty.[6] This provision, establishes that, among other objectives, the EU promotes energy efficiency. This is not a new objective of EU policies.[7] However it is only with the new “20+20+20” initiative that energy efficiency has acquired a primary role in EU policy-making.

 

2.1 The “20+20+20” initiative and energy efficiency

EU law has already pioneered energy efficiency in the 90s.[8] More recently, energy efficiency has acquired more importance. Already in a 2006 Communication, the Commission foresaw a number of measures to achieve the 20% increase in energy efficiency.[9] However, it was only with the “20+20+20” initiative that energy efficiency has assumed a central role. Following the 2007 Spring European Council conclusions,[10] the European Commission adopted the seminal EU Climate and Energy Package in 2009.[11] It establishes a number of proposals which aim to achieve three objectives by 2020: the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions by 20%, the increase in the use of renewable energies by 20% and the improvement in energy efficiency by 20%. The reference year to achieve these objectives has been set in 2020.

Hence, energy efficiency constitutes one of the three pillars of the initiative and aims at saving “the EU some € 100 billion and cut emissions by almost 800 million tonnes a year”. [12] As part of this pillar, the Commission published a Communication[13] in 2008 named “Energy Efficiency: Delivering the 20% Target” which contained specific measures to be addressed to achieve the target.[14] A strong emphasis in the document was put on the obstacles to energy efficiency improvements consisting in “the poor implementation of existing legislation, the lack of consumer awareness and the absence of adequate structures to trigger essential investments in and market uptake of energy efficient buildings, products and services” and the ways to overcome them in the near future.

Notwithstanding the ambitious programme put forward by the Commission, current achievements have not been as effective as hoped. As shown by the European Council Conclusions of 4 February 2011,[15] the 20% energy efficiency target is currently not on track and further measures are needed in order to achieve the energy efficiency goal.

 

2.2 The Directive on energy efficiency

The Commission made a legislative proposal on a Directive on energy efficiency on 22 June 2011 on the basis of Art.194(2) TFEU. As stated in the Impact Assessment, the policy choices followed by the Commission were three: set indicative targets to be achieved by the Member States, evaluate the nature and impact of individual policy measures, and extend the scope of the two former instruments to be merged into one directive. Overall, according to the Commission, these policy objectives were favoured with a view to achieve strong energy savings and reinforce action for energy services.

After first reading amendments, the European Parliament and the Council approved the proposal in October 2012. The directive has been published on 14 November 2012. According to Art.28, Member States shall transpose the Directive eighteen months after its entry into force. So the delay of transposition is set by the end of the first half of 2014.

The directive is divided into four main chapters: the first on subject matter, scope, definitions and energy efficiency targets; the second on efficiency in energy use; the third on efficiency in energy supply; the fourth on horizontal provision; and the fifth on final provisions. In the preamble, the Directive states a number of targets which the directive aims at achieving.

Through referring both to the European Council Conclusions of 4 February 2011[16] and to the 2011 Energy Efficiency Plan,[17] the Directive recalls that Member States are not yet on target to achieve the 2020 energy efficiency goals. On the contrary, these goals require that Member States set strict indicative national energy efficiency targets, schemes and programmes.

The Directive defines energy efficiency in “terms of the ratio of output of performance, services, goods or energy, to input of energy”.[18] Energy efficiency targets are related to primary energy consumption as “gross inland consumption, excluding non-energy uses”, and final energy consumption as “all energy supplied to industry, households, services and agriculture”. To that extent, Member States shall notify their targets to the Commission taking into account the “absolute level of primary energy consumption and final energy consumption in 2020”.[19]

The Directive puts great emphasis on the public sector to achieve targets of energy efficiency. In particular, it provides that 3% of public bodies’ buildings shall be renovated to respect minimum energy performance requirements. Similarly, public bodies are required to purchase products, services and buildings with high energy-efficiency performance. Further, the Directive states that Member States shall set up energy efficiency obligation schemes with a view to achieve the energy efficiency goals.

The consumers are entitled to receive intelligent metering system indicating competitive prices, reflecting accurately the consumer’s actual energy consumption and providing information on actual time of use.[20] Similarly, billing information shall be accurate and based on actual consumption. This system of billing information shall be free of charge and be easy to access.[21]

Finally, the chapter on energy efficiency in supply contains provisions on energy auditing, energy transformation, transmission and distribution, energy services and incentives to reduce energy consumption.[22] The primary objective of these provisions is to allow a smart use of energy and to promote energy efficiency in the Member States.

 

3. A commentary to the Directive: critical remarks

The Directive stands out as the most important piece efficiency of legislation in European energy law. Its content, admittedly much more detailed as compared with the Commission’s initial proposal, has been fairly modified. On the whole, as shown also by a Commission Non-paper,[23] the amendments to the Directive have not been beneficial to reach the energy efficiency target.

First, contrary to the initial attempts of the Commission, the Directive follows the policy objective of reaching indicative national targets on Member States rather than the binding targets. This policy choice reflects the need not to impose an excessive burden on Member States and is motivated by the difficulties of accepting “binding terms” in the Council. Admittedly, indicative targets do not share the same guarantees as the binding ones and they appear problematic from the point of view of compliance.

Second, the setting up of an energy efficient obligation scheme where Member States need to indicate at least 1.5% annual energy savings is a positive development because it will induce Member States to save energy. Nonetheless, a number of provisions limit the general scope of the obligation scheme and provide for some alternatives to energy saving calculations that do not contribute to energy efficiency on the whole.[24]

Further, important innovations refer to obligations on the part of the public sector. For instance, public bodies should play an exemplary role in energy savings. Accordingly, the directive contains two provisions on the public sector.[25] First, a percentage of 3% in annual renovation for public bodies’ buildings respectful of energy efficient performance is a positive requirement to assure that energy is not wasted by public bodies. As affirmed in the preamble,[26] both the fact that a considerable share of buildings in the Member States is public and that public buildings have high visibility in public life suggest that effective energy saving can be achieved in future. Second, the provision requiring public bodies of the central government to purchase services and buildings with high energy-efficiency performance stands out as a sound condition to assure energy savings. However, at a more careful reading, one aspect strongly limits the scope of this provision: the obligation to purchase does not apply to local authorities as long as the purchase does not have a value equal or greater than the threshold established in Art.7 of directive 2004/18/EC.[27] Admittedly, this limitation on scope contained in the Directive does not contribute to far-reaching energy savings.

Conversely, from the point of view of the consumer, the directive appears a significant improvement in transparency and access to information. In fact, consumers will be informed on energy consumption through intelligent metering systems and sound billings. Nonetheless, the insertion of conditionalities to metering and billing obligations strongly reduces the potential benefit for energy efficiency.

As for undertakings, the directive establishes, on the one side, incentives for Small and Medium Enterprises (“SMEs”) to promote energy audits and, on the other side, obligations for large companies to carry out energy audits. These could prove to be effective measures to assure that the private sector respects appropriate standards of energy consumption. However, given the voluntary nature of audit for SMEs, it appears less probable that SMEs will make use of audits if the Member States do not provide for substantial incentives to the benefit of the undertaking itself. Conversely, the audit obligation on the part of non-SMEs will take place only from 5 December 2015. Hence, one may question whether these provisions are actually effective in contributing to reach the 2020 targets of energy efficiency.

Finally, the Directive contains a provision on efficiency in heating and cooling that should promote cogeneration. Once again, this provision refers to an obligation to carry out a cost-benefit analysis rather than an obligation of cogeneration as envisaged in the proposal. Hence, even if the proposal attempted at assuring that cogeneration took place in the EU, the final Directive is less stringent in achieving cogeneration as a way to reduce energy consumption.

 

4. Conclusion

The Directive contains important improvements to raise energy efficiency in Europe but, unfortunately, its content is not as stringent as expected to reach the 20% target by 2020. Even if Member States duly implement the provisions of the Directive, which is still difficult to preconize, the EU does not have realistic chances to attain the planned 20% increase in energy efficiency by 2020 with the new Directive. Hence, it is still open to debate whether the EU should refocus energy efficiency on less ambitious goals or promote stricter policy solutions to reach the 2020 target.

 


[1] Communication “20 20 by 2020 – Europe’s climate change opportunity”, COM (2008)30.

[2] See the speech “Commissioner Oettinger welcomes final adoption of Energy Efficiency Directive”, IP/12/1069, 4.10.2012.

[3] Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC, [2012] OJ L315 p.1 (“the Directive”).

[4] Directive 2004/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 on the promotion of cogeneration based on a useful heat demand in the internal energy market; and Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2006 on energy end-use efficiency and energy services.

[5] The Directive, recital 2.

[6] On the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on energy policy see L. HANCHER and F. SALERNO, “Energy Policy after Lisbon”, in A. BIONDI, P. EECKHOUT and S. RIPLEY, EU law after Lisbon, Oxford, 2012, pp.367-402.

[7] For a reconstruction of past energy efficiency initiatives in the EU see V. BRUGGEMANN, Energy efficiency as a criterion for regulation of the European Community, (2004), EELR, pp.141-147.

[8] As starting point on energy efficiency in the EU see the Council Resolution of 7 December 1998 on energy efficiency in the European Community, OJ 17.12.1998 C394/01.

[9] Commission Communication, Action plan for energy efficiency: Realizing the potential, COM(2006)545 final.

[10] 7224/1/07 REV 1, 02.05.2007.

[11] On the 20 20 20 package see more extensively K. KULOVESI, E. MORGERA and M. MUNOZ, “Environmental integration and multi-faceted international Dimensions of EU law: Unpacking the EU’s 2009 Climate and Energy Package”, (2009), CMLR, pp.829-891.

[12] COM (2008) 30.

[13] Communication from the Commission of 13 November 2008 – Energy efficiency: delivering the 20% target COM(2008) 772.

[14] The consumption of energy is generally calculated in “Mtoe” which can be defined as the equivalent amount of energy released by burning one Million tonne of crude oil.

[16] The Directive, recital 2.

[17] Ibidem, recital 8.

[18] Ibidem, art. 2 par. 1 n. 4.

[19] Ibidem, art.3.

[20] Ibidem, art. 9.

[21] Ibidem, art.10.

[22] Ibidem, art.8, 14, 15, 16, 18.

[23] See the Commission Non-paper on the Energy Efficiency Directive available at http://ec.europa.eu/energy/efficiency/eed/doc/20120424_energy_council_non_paper_efficiency_en.pdf, 19-20 April 2012.

[24] See the Directive, art.7 par.2. However, as stated in art. 7 par.3, the reduction on energy savings “shall not lead to a reduction of more than 25% of the amount of energy savings”.

[25] The Directive, art.5 and 6.

[26] Ibidem, Preamble 17.

[27] Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts, OJ  L 134, 30.4.2004, p.114.