Dear Minister,
Europe is once again paying the price of its fossil fuel dependence, and particularly its extreme dependence on imported fossil fuels. As the US-Israel-led war in Iran and the wider regional conflict has already driven up the EU’s energy bill by an estimated €62 billion exposing persistent vulnerabilities in Europe’s energy system, the June Energy Council must focus on ending the cycle of recurring fossil fuel crises.
Europe cannot achieve lasting energy security, affordability or competitiveness while remaining dependent on expensive fossil fuels. While the EU still spent €330 billion on fossil fuels in 2025 it becomes increasingly clear that renewables shield consumers from high gas prices. The only credible response is to accelerate a socially just and climate-neutral energy transition based on renewable energy, renewables-based electrification, energy savings, flexibility and modern infrastructure, which is both an economic necessity and a climate imperative for the world’s fastest-warming continent.
Ahead of the Council, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, representing more than 200 member organisations and over 40 million citizens across Europe, would like to share recommendations on the key issues under discussion: the Grids Package, the post-2030 energy framework, and the EU’s response to the current fossil fuel crisis.
1. Grids Package
A modern, interconnected and flexible electricity grid is the backbone of a secure, affordable and resilient European energy system. The Grids Package gives Europe the opportunity to overhaul the planning of its cross-border infrastructure and to better coordinate our common resources. This must be done by building together a common scenario, harnessing spare congestion revenues, and committing to phasing-out fossil infrastructure.
- Build together a common scenario: One common plan for cross-border infrastructure, led by the EU Commission, can help better coordinate the cost-efficient development of vital cross-border electricity infrastructure, ensuring both national and EU-level benefits can be realised. A careful balance must be struck to ensure all relevant stakeholders give input, while keeping the process top-down and ensuring meaningful bottom-up input from Member States, system operators, civil society, and other stakeholders, while maintaining a streamlined, transparent, and efficient planning process. The general approach should avoid recreating the inefficient process of the past, and presenting a central scenario in name only.
- Employ idle congestion revenues into electricity infrastructure: Remaining congestion revenues should be harnessed to support projects that can benefit the EU as a whole. While internal congestion revenues may deserve different treatment, they should still be required to solve inter-zonal congestion with a Member State and not be fully excused from supporting cross-border projects, in particular in the region of the Member State. Congestion revenues should not be allocated towards solving resource adequacy issues, which would open the door to subsiding fossil fuels.
- No backsliding on Cyprus and Malta pipeline derogation: Extending the fossil gas pipeline derogation for Cyprus and Malta from 2029 to 2033 goes against prioritising electrification over fossil fuels, especially during another fossil fuel crisis.
2. Strong, Binding and Future-proof post-2030 EU energy framework
The post-2030 framework should become Europe’s roadmap for energy sovereignty. The EU’s current climate and energy framework has demonstrated that clear direction, binding targets and coordinated European action deliver results. Renewable energy deployment has accelerated, energy efficiency has improved, emissions have fallen and Europe’s exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets has been reduced. In a recent joint letter, a coalition of civil society organisations and industry stakeholders called on EU policymakers to preserve the key strengths of the current framework and avoid weakening the policy architecture that has driven Europe’s energy transition.
A strong post-2030 framework must provide investors, industries and citizens with a clear signal that Europe remains committed to accelerating renewable energy deployment, electrification, energy efficiency and the phase-out of fossil fuels. The post-2030 framework should be guided by the following principles:
- Maintaining binding and ambitious renewable energy and energy efficiency targets: The EU should preserve the current target architecture with binding targets on renewable energy and energy efficiency,binding national contributions, and robust governance for the rapid uptake of renewable electricity. Binding targets and clear trajectories are essential to provide predictability for investors, ensure accountability and deliver the scale of deployment needed to achieve energy security, affordability, and climate neutrality. A broader target such as “clean energy target”, which lacks a clear legal definition and represents an umbrella concept that can be interpreted in different ways, would risk diluting investment signals and slowing deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions.
- Ending the EU’s dependence on fossil fuels, a structural pillar of the framework: Europe’s strongest energy security strategy is reducing its dependence on imported fossil fuels. The post-2030 framework should therefore place fossil fuel phase-out, energy sovereignty and affordability at its core. This requires a clear and socially just roadmap to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, a strategy to progressively reduce and ultimately eliminate Europe’s reliance on fossil fuels, starting with fossil gas, and accelerated deployment of renewable energy, electrification and flexibility solutions. The revision of the EU Energy Security Framework and the Governance Regulation should not be treated as separate processes.
- Strengthening governance and implementation: The post-2030 framework must address the implementation gaps that continue to delay renewable energy deployment and energy savings across Member States. Stronger governance and enforcement mechanisms are needed to ensure effective delivery of agreed objectives.
- Accelerating renewables- based electrification and system flexibility: Direct renewable-based electrification must become a central pillar of Europe’s industrial and energy security strategy. Electrification alone cannot drive the speed and scale and should therefore be an integral part of a regulatory framework including binding targets for renewable energy, energy savings and fossil fuel phase out. At the same time, the framework should strengthen support for energy storage, demand-side flexibility, interconnections and other non-fossil flexibility solutions needed to operate a highly renewable energy system.
- Scale up the implementation of energy efficiency measures: As energy efficiency lowers energy imports and ensures a more affordable electrification and mitigates energy poverty, the 2040 EU energy efficiency target must be complemented with dedicated measures and actions to ensure the continuation of progress during the next decade.
- Putting citizens and communities at the centre: Citizens, local authorities and energy communities are critical enablers of the energy transition. The future framework should strengthen provisions on public participation, community benefit sharing and energy communities to increase public support, accelerate deployment and ensure a fair distribution of benefits.
3. This should be Europe’s Last Fossil Fuel Crisis
The current crisis should not trigger another cycle of fossil fuel lock-in. Instead, it should reinforce the need for a long-term framework to phase out fossil fuels as called for by a broad coalition of industry associations, investors, workers’ representatives, and civil society. This should be Europe’s last fossil fuel crisis and EU policy makers need to agree on structural measures that permanently reduce Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels and fossil gas in particular including the following concrete points:
- A EU Fossil Gas Exit Strategy leading to a full gas phase out by 2035 building on gas demand reduction measures from Accelerate EU with a binding annual gas demand reduction target of 7–8%.
- A roadmap to phase out LNG import dependence, with particular focus on US LNG by 2032 by using the legal commitment to phase out Russian fossil gas imports by 2027 as a blueprint. Europe should avoid replacing one fossil fuel dependency with another and instead prioritise structural demand reduction through energy savings and renewables based electrification.
- Deliver a timely and ambitious implementation of the EU Methane Regulation: The Methane Regulation is a key pillar of Europe’s energy security architecture. Delaying sanctions for key import obligations would create a de facto “stop-the-clock” mechanism and undermine implementation. The real source of legal uncertainty today is the absence of national penalty regimes across Member States. A robust penalties framework is essential to ensure a level playing field and drive methane reductions.
- Remove tax barriers to electrification: Renewables-based electrification is key to lowering energy costs, strengthening energy security and accelerating decarbonisation. Yet in many Member States, electricity remains more heavily taxed than fossil gas, slowing the transition. We urge Member States to reform energy taxation and pricing to lower electricity prices and narrow the gap with gas costs, while supporting vulnerable households through targeted tariffs, bill support and clean technology grants. This would make electrification more accessible and help position the Electrification Action Plan at the core of Europe’s energy sovereignty, social justice and competitiveness strategy.
- Tax excess fossil fuel profits and phase out fossil fuel subsidies: The EU must now introduce a permanent tax on fossil fuel excess profits, to raise public revenues and send a clear signal that fossil fuel investments will only deliver declining returns, thereby redirecting capital towards the energy transition. Revenues raised should be used to support vulnerable consumers and accelerate investments in renewable energy, electrification, grids, storage and energy efficiency. Taxation of fossil fuel profits beyond temporary approaches is key to Europe’s economy and energy security. At the same time, fossil fuel subsidies should be progressively phased out to ensure public money supports Europe’s long-term security, affordability and competitiveness objectives rather than prolonging fossil fuel dependence.
Europe cannot achieve lasting affordability, resilience, prosperity or energy security by searching for new fossil fuel suppliers as soon as a geopolitical crisis emerges. The most effective response is to accelerate the transition towards an efficient, flexible and electrified energy system powered by homegrown renewable energy sources.
We urge Ministers to seize this moment to strengthen Europe’s resilience and accelerate the clean energy transition. The decisions taken today should not simply help Europe weather the current crisis, they should ensure that this becomes the last fossil fuel crisis Europe has to face.
Yours sincerely,
Chiara Martinelli, Director, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe