8 December 2025

How Brussels hopes to fast-track eight ‘urgent’ energy projects

The EU’s forthcoming Grids Package centres on eight energy projects that could be the key to unlocking lower power prices in Europe – a Holy Grail for European Commission officials in hot pursuit of a competitiveness agenda.

On 10 December, the EU will make what could be its most consequential energy proposal of the year: a push to centralise grid-planning powers and further accelerate permitting for badly needed new power lines, according to leaked drafts obtained by Euractiv.

At the core of the strategy is a grand bet on eight so-called “energy highway” projects the EU executive hopes will close the electricity price gap, and competitive disadvantage, with other industrialised economies. “Our electricity prices remain 2-3 times higher than those in the US,” noted the draft, which can still be changed before publication.

The projects in line for special treatment lie on the EU’s periphery: five electricity infrastructure developments, two proposed hydrogen pipelines, and one gas project have been identified as potential fixes for structural weaknesses in Europe’s power system that continue to drive up costs.

“Each project will be prioritised at EU level, and the Commission will support member states in giving them the same priority nationally,” the document said.

The French Connection

In practice, that means Brussels is preparing another push to spur EU countries that are stalling on cross-border cable projects – long seen as a missing link in the bloc’s grid integration. There was a similar effort a decade ago, but the problems remain.

First target: France. Paris, with its powerful nuclear industry in mind, has long resisted cross-border cables across the Pyrenees separating the Iberian Peninsula from the European mainland and its power market.

By the first quarter of 2026, Brussels wants to see a “joint political declaration” from France and Spain to launch “at least one” of the two cables deemed crucial to the bloc – integrating the Iberian Peninsula’s bountiful solar and wind power potential into the EU is considered crucial to getting prices down.

Cultivating the seas

The second major priority is securing offshore wind development in the bloc’s territorial waters, alongside new cross-border interconnectors. Massive wind farms linked directly to two or more countries are expected to help ease prices.

But questions over cost- and liability-sharing remain unresolved. Enter Bornholm, the Danish Baltic Sea island set to become an energy hub connecting offshore turbines to both Denmark and Germany, with Poland a possible later participant.

“The Commission will continue supporting Denmark and Germany in reaching a political agreement on the cost sharing … as well as in finalising their regulatory framework on cross-border liability,” the document reads.

Many see Bornholm as a first step towards rolling out similar schemes across the bloc. Dan Jørgensen, the energy commissioner – and a Dane – once called it a “blueprint for future offshore power development in the EU.”

Mediterranean link

Cyprus, soon to become the only EU member not connected to the bloc’s common electricity grid, is also in the Commission’s sights.

“The planned Great Sea Interconnector between Greece and Cyprus will address this gap,” the document said, pushing back against recent concerns in Nicosia over the project’s economic viability for the divided island nation.

Mindful of the cable’s “strategic value,” Brussels plans to stage a series of “events and high-level discussions, and with additional engagement to addressing geopolitical aspects [sic]” during Cyprus’ rotating EU Council presidency, which kicks off in January.

It’s not all about electricity, though. The new political initiative also appears set to boost two long-distance moonshot-style hydrogen pipelines, alongside a gas infrastructure project in Eastern Europe.