The Commission’s State of the Energy Union presented on 18 November 2015 states that “[t]he
Energy Union needs a reliable and transparent governance process, anchored in legislation, to make
sure that energy-related actions at European, regional, national and local level all contribute to the
Energy Union’s objectives.” This corresponds to similar calls from the European Council and the
European Parliament[*].
The State of the Energy Union also underlines that “[i]ntegrated national energy and climate plans,
addressing all five dimensions of the Energy Union, are necessary tools to have more strategic
planning”, and that “[i]n order to track progress, a transparent monitoring system needs to be put in
place based on key indicators as well as on Member States’ biannual reports concerning progress
made on their national plans”. This builds further on the Commission’s Communication on the Energy
Union from February 2015, which explained that a purpose of the governance process for the Energy
Union is to “streamline current planning and reporting requirements, avoiding unnecessary
administrative burden”.