Our complaint was filed with the European Commission against Royal Decree 413/2014 on Renewables only ten days after its approval

A team from the law firm HOLTROP S.L.P., volunteer lawyers for the Platform for a New Energy Model, has travelled to Brussels to file a complaint against Spain with the European Commission for breach of European Law by the new electricity reform which drastically cuts the retribution to renewables and puts many renewable producers on the brink of insolvency. 

To this end HOLTROP S.L.P. has met with the Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission to inform about the current situation of the sector in Spain. The purpose of this complaint, the fifth from a series of six, for the time being, is to prompt the European Commission to start an infringement procedures against Spain, considering that Royal Decree-Law 9/2013, Law 24/2013 and Royal Decree 413/2014 clash with the Renewables Directive, the Emissions Directive, free movement of capitals and the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations.

This action complements several procedures started by HOLTROP S.L.P. before Spanish national courts, although invoking European law, for the more than 1500 producers they represent. In these proceedings, they ask for a preliminary ruling with the objective that the Court of Justice of the European Union decides whether cutbacks to renewables are in compliance with EU Law. A European Commission decision to start a procedure would render it very difficult for national courts to deny preliminary rulings. 

In the coming months, HOLTROP S.L.P. will return to Brussels for the Platform to complement this complaint with the Ministerial Order of Retributive Parameters to be approved soon, and follow up on the actions of the European Commission.

Contact: Daniel Pérez Rodríguez, 0034 618 60 77 69; Piet Holtrop 0034 637 05 21 35