The Energy Ministers of the 27 EU Member States will meet in Luxembourg on Friday 11 June for a face-to-face meeting during which they will discuss in particular the proposed revision of the EU Regulation (347/2013) on Trans-European Energy networks (TEN-E), but also the EU’s strategies on hydrogen and building renovations.
TEN-E
Aiming to promote investment in cross-border energy infrastructure while respecting the objectives of the European Green Deal, the revision of the TEN-E Regulation will be the first and main topic of this meeting.
The discussion promises to be difficult, as this dossier, in particular the place of natural gas projects and the mixing of hydrogen with natural gas, divides the Member States.
On 2 June, the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) were unable to reach a political agreement (‘general approach’) on the latest compromise proposal of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU, which consists in particular of providing for a transitional period for projects involving the mixing of hydrogen with methane or biomethane (see EUROPE 12732/16).
Taking the baton, the Ministers will nevertheless try to set a general approach on this important issue.
Hydrogen strategy
The Ministers will then exchange views on the EU hydrogen strategy, which aims to install at least 6 GW of renewable hydrogen electrolysers in the EU by 2025 and 40 GW by 2030.
Presented by the European Commission on 8 July 2020 (see EUROPE 12523/1), this strategy has already been the subject of EU Council conclusions adopted in December (see EUROPE 12621/14).
Renovation wave
The meeting will continue with the adoption (barring any surprises) of the EU Council conclusions on the Renovation Wave Strategy, unveiled by the Commission on 14 October.
Welcoming the strategy’s goal of at least doubling the annual rate of building renovations in the EU by 2030, the draft conclusions prepared by the Portuguese Presidency were already agreed in Coreper on 2 June (see EUROPE 12732/30).
Other topics
In addition, the Commission will inform the Ministers on recent developments in external relations in the energy sector. According to a senior EU diplomat, the briefing should include references to the recent EU Council conclusions on EU climate and energy diplomacy (see EUROPE 12643/9) as well as to the fifth round of negotiations on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which ended on Friday 4 June.
The Lithuanian delegation will stress the need for urgent action on safety recommendations at the Ostrovets nuclear power plant in Belarus (see EUROPE 12734/28).
Finally, the Slovenian delegation will present its work programme for the upcoming EU Council Presidency. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)