During a new session of inter-institutional negotiations on the gas package (see EUROPE 13260/5) and, more specifically, on the regulation for this package, which also includes a directive, negotiated separately (see EUROPE 13270/2), the co-legislators returned to three important points of debate, without making any major progress, sending the dossier back to the technical negotiations.
The co-legislators first returned to the negotiations on biomethane. The main point of disagreement remains the European Parliament’s initial target of 35 billion cubic metres of sustainable biomethane produced and injected into the natural gas network by the end of 2030.
The EU Council and the Commission do not want this objective, which could lead the co-legislators to agree only on the addition of recitals, referring in particular to REPowerEU, as desired by the EU Council, or on a specific article, pushed by the European Parliament, which would make it possible to mention and send a signal in favour of the ambition to produce biomethane. A mandate has been sent to the technical level on this point.
They then exchanged views once again on the issue of governance, on which the co-legislators are sticking to their respective positions.
The EU Council and the European Commission support the creation of an independent European Network of Network Operators for Hydrogen (ENNOH), while the European Parliament wants a merger with the existing ENTSO-G gas network (ENTSOG&H).
The Parliament has tried to take a step towards the EU Council by proposing a division into specific working groups within ENTSOG&H as well as a supervisory committee that would monitor internal conflicts of interest.
For the EU Council, this solution is not acceptable. It therefore suggested that ENNOH should be retained, with a proposal to share services internally with ENTSO-G in order to limit costs, as well as a joint Board of Directors and, finally, to extend the transition period before the creation of ENNOH by one year.
Finally, with regard to tariffs for access to interconnection points, the European Parliament wanted to abolish tariffs at borders (unless the regulatory authorities concerned jointly agree a tariff regime for such access), which is not acceptable to the EU Council. However, the rapporteur, Jerzy Buzek (EPP, Polish), proposed deleting the article concerned on condition that ENNOH was not created.
Secondly, the EU Council continues to defend the role of national regulators, while the Parliament is pushing for ACER to decide on tariffs in the event of disagreement.
Finally, with regard to the article on tariff discounts (100% for renewable gases and 75% for low-carbon gases), as called for by the EU Council, an attempt could be made to reach an agreement that would allow national regulators who so wish not to apply tariff discounts.
Negotiations will also resume at technical level on this point, before the final trilogue, scheduled for 27 November, to attempt to reach an agreement on both the regulation and the directive.
To view the 4-column document: https://aeur.eu/f/9f6 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)