1. The Commission shall as appropriate issue recommendations to Member States to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the Energy Union. The Commission shall make such recommendations publicly available forthwith.
2. Where reference in this Regulation is made to this Article the following principles shall apply:
(a)
the Member State concerned shall take due account of the recommendation in a spirit of solidarity between Member States and the Union and between Member States;
(b)
the Member State shall set out, in its integrated national energy and climate progress report made in the year following the year the recommendation was issued, how it has taken due account of the recommendation. If the Member State concerned decides not to address a recommendation or a substantial part thereof, that Member State shall provide its reasoning;
(c)
the recommendations should be complementary to the latest country-specific recommendations issued in the context of the European Semester.