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Brussels wants faster permits for electricity projects

by AI | 11.Dec 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Brussels wants the electricity networks of member states to be better interconnected. Permits for electricity projects must be granted more easily, according to a plan by the European Commission.

Photo: Silas Stein/dpa

BRUSSELS –  With this, the Commission hopes for more capacity on electricity grids and lower energy prices.

Member states had agreed to increase the interconnection of their electricity grids by 15 percent by 2030. Many member states do not seem likely to achieve that. That is why haste is required.

Brussels has already mapped out where the biggest bottlenecks in the European electricity grid are. For example, this is the case in Germany, where much outdated infrastructure is not equipped to handle all the electricity generated. In Eastern Europe, electricity grids also need to be better interconnected. The same applies to Spain and France. This unstable electricity connection caused a major power outage in Spain and Portugal in June.

At the beginning of December, the Commission designated 235 cross-border energy projects that can alleviate the bottlenecks. They will receive EU funding and accelerated permits. Brussels wants to be able to grant this status to more projects. The Commission wants to coordinate this with the member states, but if a bottleneck is not addressed by the countries themselves, the Commission wants to be able to intervene.

Environmental rules around the permitting of the construction of energy projects must also be simplified. Energy projects that have little impact on nature, such as refurbishing existing wind turbines or power cables, must receive permits more quickly.

Furthermore, Brussels wants costs to be shared more fairly. Member states that both benefit from a power connection in a member state, for example from a wind farm, must both pay for it.

The Commission has calculated that 1.2 trillion euros will be needed for electricity grids up to 2040. Better integration will save about 40 billion, Brussels calculated. In the multiannual budget (2028-2034), the Commission wants to increase the energy budget from just over 5 billion to almost 30 billion euros.

The member states and the European Parliament will now examine the proposal.

(10 December 2025)