Following the political agreement struck with the Council and the European Commission (EC) last November, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) gave their green light to the EU energy infrastructure regulation at their plenary session in Strasbourg on 12 March. While the text still needs formal approval by the Council before entering into force, the EC is pressing ahead with the completion of the first list of projects of common interest (PCI) that will be prioritised and could potentially receive public support. Meanwhile, MEPs rejected the political agreement reached by the Heads of State and Government on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework 2014-2020.
The draft regulation, adopted with 539 votes in favour, 85 against and 16 abstentions, sets guidelines for the selection of priority trans-European energy infrastructure projects. Informally agreed under the leadership of rapporteur Antonio Correia de Campos (S&D, Portugal) and the then Cypriot Presidency of the Council, it overhauls the obsolete Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) by introducing a new approach to energy infrastructure projects, defining twelve EU-wide geographic ‘corridors’ and functional areas spanning electricity, gas, oil, carbon dioxide networks, and smart grids. All selected projects will have to fall in at least one of those priority areas and meet specific criteria related to market integration, security of supply or sustainability.
Project promoters will have to apply for the PCI status on a rolling basis every two years projects will then be reviewed by representatives from national governments, the Commission, the EU-wide system operators and project promoters – the first two ultimately deciding on the inclusion of projects on the final PCI list. All projects on the list will benefit from a special regulatory treatment which aims at reducing the complexity of cross-border infrastructure projects. Crucially, they will also benefit from lighter permitting procedures, frequently identified as amongst the main hurdles to infrastructure development. This will include a better coordination/centralisation of the permitting process and a binding time limit of three and a half years for the completion of the overall procedure.
PCI which are not commercially viable could potentially be supported by EU public funding allocated under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). However, as part of the political agreement on the Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) 2014-2020 struck in February, the Heads of State and Government have slashed the CEF funding dedicated to energy from the proposed €9.1bn to €5.1bn. In a resolution adopted on 13 March, the EP rejected that deal, stating that it did not reflect the Parliament’s priorities and concerns. MEPs also reiterated that the “MFF for 2014-2020 should ensure the successful implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy and […] the importance of substantially increasing investments in innovation, research and development, infrastructure and youth, meeting the EU's climate change and energy objectives […].”
Meanwhile, the EC is working towards the completion of the first list of PCI to be published by July 2013. In a presentation to the latest meeting of the Gas Coordination Group on 28 February, Commission representatives said they estimated that around 150 of the 422 originally submitted projects would qualify as PCIs. Of these, 100 would be projects for electricity and 50 for gas – less than the total number of eligible projects of 150 and 100 respectively.