The 27 agree on the new criteria to finance energy projects with the vote against Spain

The energy ministers of the European Union have agreed on Friday the criteria that will guide the bloc during the coming years to decide which energy projects can receive community funds, although the pact has had the vote against Spain for the fact that gas projects will continue to be financed until 2030, as well as Germany, Austria and Luxembourg.

The opposition of these countries have not prevented the regulations from going ahead, so the Twenty-seven are already prepared to negotiate with the European Parliament. “Despite the votes against, it is adopted,” announced at the end of the meeting the Minister of Environment and Climate Action of Portugal, the country that holds the rotating presidency of the EU, until July, Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes.

Thus, the Member States have set their red lines for the negotiation with the European Parliament of the regulation on trans-European energy networks (TEN-E), which establishes the criteria to be followed to invest in cross-border energy infrastructure.

The update seeks to adapt the regulations to the new climate objectives of the EU for 2030 and 2050 and for this it renews the categories of infrastructures that can benefit from European aid, with a “new focus” on marine electricity networks, hydrogen infrastructures or smart grids, the Council of the EU has informed in a statement.

Finally, the agreement that has gone ahead includes the decision to end subsidies to natural gas and oil projects, but it will do so in a “more gradual” way with respect to what the European Commission had previously proposed.

“The proposal made by the European Commission was that oil and natural gas projects can no longer be financed with the TEN-E regulation. This ambition remains, but its implementation will be more gradual,” Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson told a news conference.

In particular, the Twenty-Seven have agreed that during a transitional period that will last until December 31, 2029 “existing gas infrastructure that has been retrofitted may be used for the transport or storage of a predefined mixture of hydrogen with natural gas or biomethaneal”.

This point is precisely what led to the vote against the Spanish delegation, which was attending the Luxembourg meeting precisely with the purpose of preventing the regulations from opening the door to continue financing infrastructures related to fossil fuels.

Upon arrival at the meeting, the Vice President for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, stressed that for the Spanish delegation it was “important” that the regulation had “coherence” and did not serve to “finance associated structures for fossil fuels.”

For his part, the Luxembourg Minister of Energy, Claude Turmes, explained after the agreement that “there are still many doubts about smart gas mixing networks” and that has caused his country, Spain, Germany and Austria to oppose it. “We are counting on the (European) Parliament to improve the text,” he said.

Source: Europe Press