As the third session of interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogue’) on the revision of the Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E) regulation (347/2013) gets underway at around 8 pm, a coalition of 41 MEPs, mainly from European Parliament groups Greens/EFA and The Left, have sent a letter to the negotiators in the Parliament and the EU Council asking them to ensure that the revised regulation is free of loopholes benefiting fossil gas projects.
The signatory MEPs, which include members of the EPP, S&D and Renew Europe groups, are concerned that the negotiators’ positions include “include loopholes for a further fossil gas grid expansion under the PCI (projects of common interest) list”.
This list, which is drawn up every two years in line with rules set out in the TEN-E Regulation, allows trans-European energy infrastructure projects to benefit from certain advantages such as accelerated administrative processing and eligibility for EU funding.
One of the major issues in the revision of the Regulation is therefore whether fossil gas projects will be able to continue to receive PCI status once the revised text is in force.
The signatory MEPs believe that the negotiators’ positions risk leaving the door wide open to future fossil gas projects under the guise of ‘blending’ methane with hydrogen or maintaining some of the gas projects already on the 4th and 5th PCI lists (see EUROPE 12834/4; 12792/20).
However, the 5th list - adopted by the European Commission on 19 November (see EUROPE 12836/3) - is strongly criticised by these MEPs, as it still includes fossil gas projects.
They therefore intend to oppose the list, the letter says.
It should also be noted that the negotiators hope to reach an agreement at the end of the third trilogue. Some, like Claudia Gamon (Renew Europe, Austria), nevertheless find this scenario hard to believe (see EUROPE 12836/3). EUROPE will continue to follow this story.
See the letter: https://bit.ly/3FFnAu1 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)