Ambassadors of the EU Member States, meeting on Friday 6 November, finally agreed on the Council of the EU’s negotiating mandate to postpone certain provisions of the methane regulation. At a previous meeting of Coreper I on 21 October, they had failed to reach an agreement (see EUROPE 13965/3).
The Council of the EU did not follow the European Parliament’s lead. On 22 October, Parliament had changed the proposed 1-year postponement of reporting requirements for gas, oil and coal importers to a 3-year postponement (see EUROPE 13966/2).
Additions. Member States kept the postponement to 1 year, until January 2028, but also introduced a revision clause.
By 30 September 2027, the European Commission must assess whether the conditions are in place for the reporting obligations to be met. If not, the regulation could be postponed again or amended, even after it being postponed twice.
The European Commission must also adopt an implementing act by 30 June 2027 establishing standards for verifying and transferring methane information between producers and importers.
According to a Council source, all Member States except Spain supported the negotiating mandate, although some regarded it as a compromise on their calls for a 3-year postponement.
Concerns about the future. Among NGOs and MEPs who favour an ambitious methane regulation, relief that the postponement is for 1 year rather than three is tempered by fears that its ambition could be weakened further.
German Greens/EFA MEP Jutta Paulus expressed concern about the Council’s “amendments that would effectively let oil and gas producers in the EU off the hook and exempt them from doing their homework”.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a member of the European ‘Methane Matters’ coalition, lodged a complaint with the European Ombudsman on 29 October over the European Commission’s handling of the methane regulation.
Read the Council’s mandate: https://aeur.eu/f/oah (Original version in French by Nadège Delépine)