On Tuesday 16 November, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union sent a document to the Member States outlining the possibilities for a compromise with the European Parliament on the revision of the Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) Regulation (347/2013), in particular the treatment of fossil gas projects.
Dating back to 2013, the TEN-E Regulation sets out the criteria for the formation of lists of ‘projects of common interest’ (PCIs) which allow trans-European energy infrastructure projects to benefit from certain advantages such as fast-track administrative processing and being eligible for EU funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).
In order to align the regulation with the objectives of the ‘European Green Deal’, the European Commission had proposed, among other things, at the end of 2020, to exclude fossil gas projects from its scope and, therefore, from the possibility of obtaining PCI status (see EUROPE 12623/3, 12618/9).
MEPs, for their part, had decided to allow a temporary derogation for these projects, under certain conditions, despite opposition from the Greens/EFA and The Left groups in the Parliament.
According to the latter, fossil gas infrastructure projects already on the fourth or fifth list of PCIs - established under the current TEN-E Regulation - could remain there and be eligible for the first list of PCIs to be established under the revised Regulation, thus retaining the benefits of PCI status. However, this derogation excludes the possibility of receiving European funding (see EUROPE 12800/2).
After two sessions of inter-institutional negotiations (‘trilogue’) on 13 and 25 October and a series of discussions at technical level, the EU Council could not accept the derogation as it stood, says the Slovenian Presidency’s four-column document.
However, the Council could accept that a project which is no longer on the PCI list, but for which an application has been accepted for examination by the competent authority, could continue to benefit from faster authorisation procedures.
However, it maintains that a derogation is needed for Malta and Cyprus.
According to this, fossil gas projects under development or planning in these countries that have been granted PCI status under the current TEN-E Regulation will retain this status - with all the benefits that this entails, including the possibility of receiving European funding - until the interconnection of these island states to the trans-European gas network is completed.
Divisions on CO2 projects
The two institutions also remain divided on the category of CO2 projects.
While the Parliament’s position is to cover projects not only related to the transport of CO2, but also those related to its storage, the Council wants to be more restrictive.
However, it could “accept a compromise whereby CO2 storage projects would only be eligible for funding if they are linked to the cross-border transport of CO2”, the Slovenian paper says.
The Council, on the other hand, continues to consider that the Parliament’s request to include different modes of CO2 transport such as ships, lorries, barges or trains does not fall within the scope of the TEN-E Regulation, on the grounds that it is not an infrastructure.
Member States also remain concerned about MEPs’ proposal to include a new project category for district heating and cooling systems in the regulation.
They consider that this category does not fall within the scope of the Regulation due to the local nature of district heating and cooling projects which “lacks a clear cross-border component”.
Governance
With regard to governance, i.e. the procedures for selecting PCIs from among the candidate projects, the Slovenian Presidency proposes that the Member States take a step towards the Parliament by agreeing to strengthen the consultation of the various stakeholders and by giving a greater role to the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER), particularly in the preparation of scenarios aimed at ensuring better integration of energy systems.
Next steps
The Slovenian paper will be discussed by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Friday 19 November, in preparation for the third round of inter-institutional negotiations in Strasbourg on the evening of 23 November.
Although this trilogue is intended to be the last, a source close to the dossier does not rule out the possibility of an additional trilogue.
See the four-column document: https://bit.ly/3coVPcN (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)