At an event at the European Parliament on Wednesday 5 February on the development of fusion energy in Europe, co-hosted by MEPs Hildegard Bentele (EPP, German) and Pascal Arimont (EPP, Belgian), the European Commission gave an indication of its future strategy for fusion.
In his report on EU competitiveness presented in September 2024 (see EUROPE 13478/1), Mario Draghi called for the development of an “overarching EU innovation strategy for nuclear fusion energy and support the creation of a public-private partnership to promote its rapid, economically viable commercialisation”.
He also stated that this strategy should create a stable and predictable ecosystem for industrial innovation, leveraging the ITER international reactor project (see EUROPE 13562/3).
According to Fabio Belloni, head of the fusion research sector at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, the aim of this anticipated strategy is to provide “a clear vision and roadmap for accelerating the development of fusion energy in the EU (...), training and maintaining our scientific and technical expertise and identifying options for a fusion regulatory framework, as well as developing a rapid coordination mechanism at EU level”.
The future strategy will be divided into six key elements, namely the ITER project as a touchstone, research, industry and innovation, revised governance, international cooperation, a regulatory framework for fusion and the objective of a pilot fusion power plant.
Following a consultation period with the Member States which began in June 2024, the Commission hopes to present this strategy by the end of the year. Mr Belloni told Agence Europe that there were no indications at this stage as to what form this strategy might take. It could therefore be a simple communication.
A Commission expert group composed of EU Member State representatives (Fusion Expert Group) was set up on 26 June 2024 to report to the Commission on fusion energy policy and to explore synergies with national policies.
In addition, a ‘coordination and support action’ was set up in January 2025 to facilitate the creation of a public-private partnership (PPP) during the extension of the Euratom 2026-2027 programme. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)