On Wednesday 10 March, the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent the Member States initial compromise proposals for the revision of the EU Regulation (347/2013) on Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E).
These proposals concern the permitting procedure for projects of common interest (PCIs) - cross-border energy infrastructure projects considered essential to complete the European energy market - and public participation.
They therefore do not address the most divisive points of the proposed revision, which are more to be found in Article 4 of the text. This relates to the criteria that projects must meet in order to be included in the list of EU PCIs and thus become eligible for EU financial support under the ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CEF).
Among the suggested changes to the Commission’s original proposal (see EUROPE 12623/3, 12618/9), Lisbon proposes, inter alia, to delete the reference to electrolysis and smart gas and electricity grid projects being included in smaller projects, i.e. projects which, because of their nature or small scale, may require fewer authorisations and approvals to enter the construction phase.
The Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council further notes that most Member States have “presented some concerns with the wording regarding one-stop-shops and some suggested its deletion”.
According to the Commission’s proposal, the revised TEN-E Regulation would introduce a one-stop-shop for each sea basin, i.e. a single point of contact responsible for facilitating and coordinating the permitting process for offshore networks for renewable energy PCIs. The aim is to reduce complexity, increase efficiency and speed up the authorisation process for offshore infrastructure projects.
In view of the concerns of the Member States, the Presidency suggests waiting for the Commission’s reply on this subject.
See the Portuguese Presidency document: http://bit.ly/3viaAXc (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)