The trilogue negotiations between the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Commission over the gas package (a directive and a regulation) got underway on Thursday 1 June without getting to the heart of the matter, with the three institutions confining themselves at this stage to restating their respective general positions. At the same time, NGOs working on climate and energy issues have put forward their priorities “for a gradual phase-out of fossil gases by 2035”.
The European Commission’s proposal was to revise the scope and definitions of the regulation and directive in order to integrate renewable gases and hydrogen as key elements of the future gas market and to reduce the share of fossil gas in the EU’s energy system (see EUROPE 12854/11).
The EU Council adopted its general approach on 28 March (see EUROPE 13151/1), while the European Parliament adopted its report in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) on 9 February (see EUROPE 13119/6).
At the same time as these interinstitutional negotiations were launched, the NGO coalition CAN Europe set out its priorities.
They include the strengthening of the wording on phasing out fossil gas by 2035 and decommissioning unused gas networks without harming end consumers, as foreseen in the EU Council proposal.
The coalition is calling for improvements in distribution system operator or ‘DSO’ planning supported by the European Parliament to be maintained and for the future DSO commercial model to be much more integrated and locally driven.
It then calls for the threshold for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ‘low-carbon gases’ to be raised from 70% to 80% compared with the fossil fuel comparator.
As far as hydrogen is concerned, the NGOs want it to be used as a priority in industrial sectors where it is difficult to reduce emissions or which are difficult to electrify, and for requirements to be strengthened in terms of priority use and authorised mixing rates.
Lastly, the NGOs are concerned about the European Parliament’s position, which compromises the creation of an independent hydrogen network planning body (ENNOH) that “risks opening the door to the fossil gas industry, by entrusting crucial responsibilities for modelling and planning the future hydrogen network to gas transmission network operators (ENTSOG)”.
While this first meeting between the three institutions officially marks the start of negotiations on the gas package, the next dates for negotiations have not yet been announced, although the European Commission and the European Parliament have insisted that work should begin as soon as possible.
As far as the EU Council is concerned, several parliamentary sources have told EUROPE that the attention of the EU27, and in particular the Swedish Presidency and the future Spanish Presidency, is focused on the implementation of the electricity market reform (see EUROPE 13141/1). (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)