The growth of renewable energy sources in the European energy market is one of the most important objectives to facilitate the transition towards a more sustainable society. The ‘Clean Energy for All European Package’ gives citizens a leading role in the energy policies of the European Union and its member states. It should also be noted that this legislative framework, for the first time, does not only focus on the role of the individual citizen, but also on the citizens who produce, share and consume energy collectively.

The paper highlights how the Energy Communities have been introduced into European legislation, identifying the distinctive elements of the Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) defined by Directive 2018/2001 (RED II) on the promotion of the use of energy from renewables, and the Citizens’ Energy Communities (CECs) defined by Directive 2019/944 (IEM) on common rules for the internal electricity market. The paper then focuses in detail on the situation in Italy, describing the law that implemented a partial and early transposition of the RED II and the open questions to be answered in view of its full transposition.