Digitalising the energy system - EU action plan - Related Opinions

The new European Grids Package seeks to strengthen and modernise the EU’s energy infrastructure, ensuring secure, affordable and increasingly clean energy flows across Member States. It introduces a more coordinated planning framework, accelerates permitting, and enhances investment to support a fully interconnected and future-proof European energy system.

This opinion explores modernising grids, adopting smart technologies, expanding connections and investing in storage and transmission innovation. It aims to improve integration and reliability to build a resilient European energy system in collaboration with neighbouring regions.

Europe’s energy system is increasingly unbalanced due to intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar, often relying on fossil fuels for stability. Achieving balance is key for energy reliability, climate goals, economic growth, and technological innovation. This opinion explores how Member States can integrate renewables while ensuring system stability and advancing decarbonisation, focusing on managing intermittent energy effectively.

European citizens are interested in developments in the implementation of digital technology solutions, with a view to simplifying the necessary administrative procedures in relation to the authorities or in everyday life in society. A digitally literate population can benefit, through digital identity, from simplified access to the services provided by public authorities or the business environment.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) welcomes the fact that the European Commission has established a Digital Europe programme, which underscores the intention to make Europe a leading player in digitalisation and to increase its economic strength and competitiveness on the world stage. The aim of the Digital Europe programme is to enable a digital single market and to shape the digital transformation in a positive way for all citizens of Europe.

The EESC advocates for a stronger budget for the Connecting Europe Facility for after 2020.

The EESC recommends that the European Commission and the Member States further encourage synergies at project level between the three sectors, which are currently limited because of the rigidity of the budgetary framework as regards the eligibility of projects and of costs.

The EESC urges the co-legislators to maintain the commitment in the previous CEF regulation to spend "the major part" of the energy budget on electricity projects.

The EESC recommends that the financial capacity of the CEF programme under the next MFF should be increased and better balanced between the three sectors in order to maintain high credibility and attractiveness for investors.