The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union announced that it would present a revised text on the grids package before the Energy Council to be held on 26 June, following a discussion within the preparatory bodies (Coreper I), on Wednesday 20 May. This amended proposal will be based “on a new text examined today and on the basis of the interventions by the Member States”, the Presidency told Agence Europe, specifying that no date had yet been set.
The grids package, presented by the European Commission on 10 December 2025 (see EUROPE 13767/4), comprises two texts: the TEN-E Regulation, governing trans-European energy infrastructure, and the Permitting Directive.
Since that announcement, several Member States have opposed a top-down approach, according to which decisions on the planning and development of trans-European electricity grids would be centralised (see EUROPE 13829/13).
Call for a regional approach. Today, France and Poland therefore put forward a call for a regional approach to the planning of European grids and infrastructure, which Agence Europe was able to consult.
Also endorsed by Bulgaria, Sweden and Finland, it requires strict compliance with the principle of subsidiarity and opposes the drafting of scenarios by bodies other than the European energy infrastructure operators (ENTSO-E, ENTSOG, ENNOH).
These countries are calling for several scenarios to be systematically proposed, in order to take account of potential delays in achieving the national energy transition objectives. The scenario would then be proposed to the TEN-E decision-making body by the regional operators.
The Commission’s role would thus be reduced to that of coordinator, so that Member States “remain in control of their national energy mixes and their planning choices”.
France and its allies are also asking for hydrogen, the market for which is not considered sufficiently mature, to be excluded from the planning of cross-border infrastructure.
Differing priorities from one national delegation to another. The Czech Republic, by contrast, “supports stronger European planning through a central scenario, the removal of bottlenecks hampering cross-border flows, as well as ensuring fair cost-sharing for cross-border projects”.
For Lithuania, the priority lies in “implementing and optimising EU investments in the protection and resilience of critical energy infrastructure”. It supports the revision of the TEN-E Regulation, while seeking flexibility on authorisation procedures, the use of revenues from congestion management and a greater role for Member States in drawing up scenarios. (Original version in French by Nadège Delépine)