European Parliament waves through list of key cross-border hydrogen infrastructure
Sixth PCI/PMI list expected to be signed into law this spring, if no objections are raised by the Council of the EU
The EU’s sixth list of Projects of Common or Mutual Interest (PCI/PMI), which would allow major hydrogen projects to access faster permitting and extra funding, yesterday survived a vote to scrap the proposal in European Parliament.
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Once signed into the Official Journal of the EU after a period of scrutiny by Parliament and the Council of the EU, projects on the list will be eligible for accelerated permitting and funds from either the €5.84bn energy provision in the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) or host member states.
However, the sixth PCI/PCMI list has been criticised by environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth and the European Environmental Bureau, for including infrastructure that would primarily carry fossil gas, such as the proposed EastMed and Melita pipelines.
As such, a resolution was put forward by Marie Toussaint on behalf of the Greens-European Free Alliance coalition of MEPs, which called on European Parliament to scrap the list.
This motion was initially put before the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, which in February voted to reject the resolution with 50 votes against, 11 for and two abstentions.
In yesterday’s vote, 431 MEPs out of 597 voted against the motion, meaning the list will almost certainly pass the scrutiny period without objection from Parliament.
Assuming there is no veto from Europe’s energy ministers in the Council of the EU, the list is expected to be published into law this spring.
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