The European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) today adopted its position on the revision of the EU rules governing trans-European energy infrastructure and approved a mandate for negotiations with the Council.

ECR shadow rapporteur Ondřej Krutílek warns that the new framework risks moving too much responsibility for network planning from Member States to the EU level.

The ECR Group supports investment in modern and reliable electricity grids, greater cross-border capacity and faster permitting where these can help lower energy costs and strengthen security of supply. However, the development of Europe’s energy networks must remain firmly grounded in the realities of individual Member States.

National transmission system operators have first-hand knowledge of their national grids, their bottlenecks and their investment needs. They should therefore remain primarily responsible for planning future network development, rather than having decisions increasingly driven by EU-level scenarios and targets.

“Europe needs more and better electricity grids. But we cannot build our energy infrastructure on political targets alone. National transmission system operators know their networks and their investment needs best, and they should remain in the driving seat when it comes to planning their development. European cooperation should support this process, not replace national responsibility,” said Krutílek.

Krutílek also stressed that the EU’s ambitions for electrification and industrial decarbonisation must be matched by the actual capacity of the electricity grid and realistic timelines for its expansion.

“We must be realistic about what our grids can deliver. Setting ambitious electrification and decarbonisation targets before the necessary infrastructure is in place risks creating bottlenecks, increasing costs and ultimately undermining both European industry and security of supply,” Krutílek said.

The proposal was adopted by the ITRE Committee and will now move to trilogue negotiations between the Parliament and the Council.