EU member states scale back cross-border energy grid funding plans but agree centralised planning of power network expansion to absorb renewables and data centre demand

EU energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg reached agreement on Friday on a revised approach to funding and planning cross-border electricity infrastructure, stepping back from an ambitious European Commission proposal that would have required member states to hand over a portion of domestic grid revenues. The Commission had proposed that national grid operators contribute 25% of unspent 'congestion revenue' — fees collected when electricity trading crosses grid bottlenecks — to fund EU-backed cross-border energy infrastructure. Member states rejected handing over domestic grid revenues, but agreed a scaled-back compromise: from 2028, 10% of unspent cross-border congestion income will be earmarked for EU-backed projects, rising to 25% by 2031. In its place, governments agreed that the Commission will develop a centralised EU plan for cross-border electricity infrastructure and investments covering the next decade, working with grid operators and companies to drive projects forward. The policy pivot reflects deep political resistance to transferring national grid revenue streams to Brussels, even as the underlying need is not disputed: Europe's electricity grids require hundreds of billions of euros in upgrades to absorb fast-growing renewable energy supply and to meet surging demand from electric vehicles and data centres. The compromise preserves EU coordination of infrastructure planning while leaving the financing architecture to be resolved — a gap that will require further legislative action.