The European Commission has launched the long-awaited European Grids Package, accompanied by the Energy Highways initiative, in what is shaping up to be the most comprehensive overhaul of Europe’s energy infrastructure policy in decades. The message from Brussels is unambiguous: without faster grid expansion, stronger interconnections and fairer financing, the energy transition stalls, prices remain fragmented, and security risks multiply. As Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen put it bluntly, “Where prices are highest is where the connections are worst.” At the same time, the package is framed as a resilience instrument. Teresa Ribeira, Vice-President of the European Commission, captured the security dimension: “We never know when and where a blackout might happen. We should be prepared.”
Behind these statements stands a 1.2 trillion euros challenge for Europe’s electricity networks by 2040. For Romania, the new framework opens a decisive window for cheaper energy, faster renewables integration and strategic interconnections that can reshape its position in the regional power and natural gas market.
Faster construction and smarter use of grids
At the heart of the Grids Package is a change in philosophy: infrastructure planning moves from fragmented national logic toward a genuinely European approach. The Commission introduces a central EU-level energy scenario, updated every four years, which will guide the identification of grid needs across borders. Transmission system operators, hydrogen network operators and regulators will now align investment planning with EU climate, security and competitiveness objectives — not just domestic demand forecasts.
Equally important is the shift toward maximizing existing infrastructure before building new capacity. The package promotes digitalization, flexibility, and smarter operation of networks to unlock faster connections for renewables, storage and electrification. This is a direct response to the reality that in many regions, grid bottlenecks — not lack of generation — is the main barrier to new investments.
Where gaps persist, the Commission introduces a formal “gap-filling” mechanism. If cross-border needs are identified but no viable projects emerge, Brussels can trigger targeted calls for proposals to force solutions onto the table. In practice, this means fewer stranded regions and fewer years lost to institutional inertia.
Who pays: from local burden to European risk-sharing
Grids remain, structurally, financed through regulated tariffs — meaning consumers ultimately pay. The Commission acknowledges that this model is reaching its limits. Under the new package, financing becomes a strategic EU-level concern.
Three pillars define the new funding architecture. First, the Commission proposes a five-fold increase of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF-Energy) in the next EU budget (2028–2034), from 5.8 billion to nearly 30 billion euros, focusing on cross-border projects. Second, domestic grids will also gain access to European funds via National and Regional Partnership Plans and the European Competitiveness Fund. Third, the European Investment Bank steps in with industrial-scale instruments, including a 1.5 billion euros counter-guarantee to boost manufacturing of grid equipment. Other sources of financing are also being pushed by the EIB.
A crucial innovation is the formalization of fair cross-border cost-sharing. Projects that benefit several countries will no longer weigh disproportionately on local consumers. New EU-wide rules on congestion income, bundling of projects and transparent benefit assessments aim to unlock private capital while reducing political resistance at national level.
What is in it for Romania: stronger security & more renewables for lower prices
For Romania, the implications are structural, not marginal. The Commission openly links poor interconnections to high prices and volatility. Romania’s growing renewables capacity — solar, wind, hydro and soon large-scale batteries — will only translate into stable and competitive prices if evacuation and cross-border export are no longer constrained.
Two Energy Highways are directly relevant for the region. The South-East Europe Energy Highway targets precisely the chronic price instability and security vulnerabilities of the region through grid reinforcements and storage integration. In parallel, the Trans-Balkan Pipeline corridor, now reconfigured for reverse flows, strengthens gas and future hydrogen resilience across Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Moldova and beyond, supporting both electricity system balancing and regional security of supply.
The strategic effect is threefold. First, Romania gains access to deeper regional markets, reducing isolation risk. Second, it can integrate more renewables without curtailment, preserving project bankability. Third, interconnectivity directly enhances system safety, making large-scale blackouts less likely and recovery faster when crises occur.
Faster permitting and money for communities
Permitting delays are acknowledged as the single biggest obstacle to infrastructure development in Europe. Today, transmission projects take on average five years to permit; renewables up to nine. The Grids Package changes this by introducing, for the first time, binding EU-level time limits for all infrastructure categories, including grids, storage and EV charging.
The Commission also introduces tacit approval if authorities fail to respond within deadlines, full digitalization of procedures, and a rebuttable presumption that grid projects serve an overriding public interest. Environmental assessments are streamlined for lower-impact works such as grid refurbishments and wind repowering.
Public acceptance is also tackled through mandatory benefit-sharing: renewable projects above 10 MW will be required to share economic benefits with local communities, while early-stage public participation becomes the standard, supported by independent facilitators and a dedicated EU toolbox for citizen inclusion. For communities long skeptical of grid works and energy projects, this changes the relationship from passive tolerance to direct economic participation.
What comes next: from political signal to legal force
The package now enters the ordinary legislative procedure, meaning negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council will define its final shape. Parallel to this, the Commission will begin operational work with Member States on priority cross-border projects already listed as Projects of Common and Mutual Interest.
The 8 Energy Highways receive immediate political fast-tracking through regional coordination groups, European coordinators and dedicated Commission task forces. In parallel, permitting acceleration will apply not only to grids, but also to renewables, storage and recharging infrastructure.
It will take some time for the first elements of the package to enter into force, not less than a year, most probably two, maybe more, with financial instruments expected to scale up in the early years of the next EU budget cycle, starting 2028. For Romania, the next two years become decisive for project maturity: only investments that are technically prepared and politically aligned will capture the wave of European funding, through CEF and other mechanisms.
New opportunities arise for cheaper energy, accelerated renewables, storage and e-mobility projects, but also hydrogen and gas infrastructure. But the next phase will be decided not in Brussels alone, but in the speed and coherence of national execution.
