Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

The rapporteur welcomes the Commission proposal that seeks to adapt the TEN-E framework to the next phase of the Union’s energy transition. Recent geopolitical developments, including disruptions affecting a critical energy transit route, have once again shown that, in a context marked by electrification, the accelerated deployment of renewable energy, growing system integration needs, heightened geopolitical risk and the need to strengthen Europe’s industrial competitiveness, the timely development of cross-border energy infrastructure must be regarded not only as a long-term decarbonisation tool, but also as a matter of resilience, affordability and strategic security.

The rapporteur therefore supports the strategic objective of the proposal, namely to ensure that the Union has the planning tools, governance structures and implementation framework required to deliver the infrastructure necessary for climate neutrality, security of supply and a more integrated internal energy market. At the same time, the rapporteur considers that this revised framework must be more robust in demonstrating which projects are truly needed, more transparent in how planning choices are made, and more attentive to the impact of infrastructure investment on final consumers.

The main objective of the report is therefore to strengthen the evidence-based nature of TEN-E planning. The rapporteur supports the Commission’s move towards a stronger Union-level planning architecture based on a central scenario, infrastructure-needs identification and a more harmonised cost-benefit analysis. However, the report seeks to ensure that these elements are more than formal planning exercises. The report strengthens the requirement that infrastructure needs be clearly identified, quantified and linked to actual system performance, including the efficient use of existing and planned infrastructure. The report also requires a more systematic comparison between identified needs and the projects proposed to address them. In this way, the report aims to ensure that the Union list reflects genuine infrastructure priorities rather than a simple aggregation of candidate projects.

The rapporteur also seeks to make the revised TEN-E framework more cost-conscious and more consumer-oriented. Energy infrastructure is indispensable to decarbonisation and market integration, but the costs of building and reinforcing networks must be assessed in a way that protects households and businesses from disproportionate burdens. For that reason, the report introduces a stronger affordability dimension across the Regulation. It provides that infrastructure development should take place at the lowest overall cost to the system, strengthens the role of cost-effectiveness in project assessment, requires greater attention to the impact of projects on network tariffs and final electricity prices, and makes clear that implementation shortcomings and avoidable cost overruns should not simply be passed through to final customers. In the rapporteur’s view, accelerating investment and protecting affordability are not contradictory objectives: they are both necessary conditions for a durable and socially balanced energy transition.

Another important aim of the report is to ensure that TEN-E better integrate storage, flexibility and demand response into the planning framework and require a more explicit assessment of system utilisation, capacity availability and structural congestion. In particular, the report seeks to ensure that persistent price divergence between bidding zones and internal transmission constraints that materially affect cross-border electricity flows are properly reflected in project assessment. This is important because the functioning of the internal electricity market depends not only on interconnectors themselves, but also on whether surrounding infrastructure and system operation allow those interconnectors to be used effectively.

The report further strengthens transparency, accountability and follow-through in the planning process. It makes the role of sensitivity analysis more systematic, improves the publication of assumptions and underlying data, and requires clearer evidence as to whether proposed projects or project bundles actually address the needs identified. It also strengthens the corrective dimension of the framework by requiring the Commission to act where unmatched needs persist and by making the outcomes of those processes more transparent. This reflects the rapporteur’s view that the effectiveness of TEN-E will depend not only on better methodologies, but also on whether the framework can identify unresolved bottlenecks and produce timely corrective action where the market and existing project pipeline do not deliver adequate solutions.

At the same time, the report supports the strengthening of resilience and security considerations in the revised framework, while ensuring that these concerns are addressed in a proportionate and accountable manner. The rapporteur therefore backs the attention given to critical network elements and foreign-investment-related risks, but complements this with a stronger requirement for ownership transparency, foreign direct investment screening and notification of material post-designation changes in control. In parallel, the report preserves the importance of public participation and local engagement, notably by requiring clearer information and earlier engagement with directly affected communities in relevant cases. In doing so, the rapporteur seeks to improve both the strategic robustness and the societal legitimacy of TEN-E projects.

Finally, the report addresses implementation and financing discipline. It strengthens oversight of congestion income use and seek to ensure that those revenues contribute more effectively to relieving congestion and improving market integration. The report also reflects the reality that, in some cases, internal reinforcements may be decisive for increasing cross-border transfer capacity and reducing structural congestion. This is a practical and important clarification in a system where the value of cross-border infrastructure can be undermined by bottlenecks inside national networks. More broadly, the report aims to ensure that the benefits of infrastructure investment are better demonstrated, more fairly distributed and more closely aligned with the functioning of the internal market.