Serbia is continuing to harmonize with the regulations of the European Union, and by the end of the year, through amendments to the Law on Energy, regulatory conditions will be met for the integration into the single EU electrical energy market, said the minister of mining and energy of Serbia, Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic, who attended the informal ministerial meeting of the Energy Community in Banjaluka in the presence of representatives of the European Commission.
As the government announced, the minister said that it was very important for Serbia to join the single EU electricity market and that the country worked on it diligently, taking care to preserve the national interests.
She emphasized that a national analysis and estimate of the impact of the implementation of the CBAM (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) were being prepared and that the Ministry of Mining and Energy was working on defining the most acceptable option to tax carbon.
According to her, carbon taxation on a local level can be one of the acceptable options for now because, with a fixed price, it would make the economy predictable in the adjustment period.
The introduction of a regional system for carbon emission trading at the same price and modelled after the system that exists in the EU (EU ETS) by 2030 is not an option for Serbia due to the too-high financial consequences and the complex implementation above all, she said.
Serbia, as she added, plans to be part of the EU ETS system on its road to joining the EU, for which the country needs, in addition to the technical assistance of the Energy Community, certain financial help from the EU too, as well as a sustainable period for the implementation, Ekapija reports.