26 June 2026 16:37 UTC · European Commission · EU Commission Press Release · Source · Email X Link

European Commission says EU will cut fossil dependency

Key points

Replace fossil fuels with renewable energy
Faster permitting, more grid capacity, and tripartite storage pact

TL;DR

European Commission says EU energy policy has three objectives: lower prices, ensure security, and fight climate change.
European Commission says main solution is replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and improving grid capacity and interconnection.
European Commission announces aim to reduce permitting times to six months (up to two years for complex cases) and to draw up EU-wide grid planning scenarios.
European Commission reports a first-ever tripartite energy storage agreement signed by 22 Member States to boost short- and medium-term capacity.

Original text

European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Remarks by Commissioner Jørgensen at the press conference of the Energy Council Luxembourg, 26 June 2026 Thank you very much and let me start by congratulating the Presidency on your hard work and the very impressive results that you have managed to achieve. You have really been doing an excellent job in getting these very, very important files to a place where we can make such important decisions today. So, congratulations on that! The EU has three very, very clear objectives with our energy policy. One, we need to get the prices down. Our energy is two to three times more expensive than competitors in China and the US. Two, our security. We cannot be dependent on importing energy for more than €370 billion every year. It leaves us vulnerable and obviously it's not economically sustainable either. And three, I don't have to remind people on a very, very hot day like this where temperature records are being broken all over Europe that climate change is indeed real and we need to do far more to fight it. Now for all of these three challenges, the main answer is: get rid of our fossil dependency by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. Therefore, the decision that the Ministers made today was extremely important. Because the biggest barrier, as I see it, for this to happen, is the lack of grid capacity. We need far more grid capacity than we have today. We need to be far better connected than we are today. And we need to utilise the grids that we have far better than we do today. The package that was approved by Ministers today and the compromise made by Ministers today will take us far in that direction. The EU Commission will get the opportunity and the possibility of drawing up EU-wide scenarios. Today we have a situation where you can compare it to trying to build a jigsaw puzzle, without looking at the picture on the box. We need a collected plan for Europe. And this is what we will get in the future. So, better planning. Two: faster permitting I think probably there is not one issue that has been brought to my attention as many times as the problem of too long permitting times in the Member States. This, we will fundamentally change now. So today, it can easily take five years, sometimes even a decade, to get a permit for a new renewable energy project or grid expansion. In the future, we aim for this to be no longer than six months in general, and up to two years for very complicated situations. This will make a real and tangible difference. Thirdly we needed better rules and we need better rules for burden sharing among countries for interconnection projects. This package approved today will also bring us much closer to that. So all in all this is a very important day. Very important decisions have been made. Now, obviously negotiations between the Council and the Parliament need to take place. We, from the Commission's side, will help and facilitate as much as we can, because we really urge co-legislators to make an agreement as soon as possible. The second thing I will mention is the first-ever EU tripartite agreement on energy storage. We have brought together governments (22 Member States have signed), storage developers and manufacturers, renewable energy developers and energy consuming industries, that have signed a paper that will spark the spread of storage technology and increase the capacity in the short and medium term which is desperately needed. This is a new way of working, where instead of having very long and tiresome – sometimes necessary, but nonetheless, very long processes. We take the momentum and bring the actors together when fast decisions are needed. It's voluntary obviously, but nonetheless it sets a very clear direction and it brings together the actors that can make a real difference. So thank you so much, also to the Cypriot Presidency for also helping in that process. Thank you. SPEECH/26/1472 Press contacts: Anna-Kaisa ITKONEN (+32 2 29 57501) Cristiana MARCHITELLI (+32 2 29 89407) General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by email

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