EU approves Grids Package, highlighting Greece's energy hub projects

The European Union Council of Energy Ministers approved the European Grids Package in Luxembourg, adding three Greek projects to the eight strategic "Energy Highways" identified by the Commission. The projects are the reverse‑flow Balkan gas pipeline, the Greece‑Cyprus electricity interconnector (Great Sea Interconnector), and the Hungary‑Romania‑Bulgaria‑Greece electricity grid extension.

The package introduces a new EU‑wide approach to energy networks, aiming for faster licensing, simpler cross‑border rules, fairer cost allocation, and stronger integration of renewable sources. It is intended to double cross‑border transmission capacity by 2030, improve supply security and stabilise electricity and gas prices in the region. Greece, positioning itself as a regional hub for gas and electricity, expects the projects to enhance supply diversity, reduce price volatility and support the EU’s green transition. Greek officials had advocated for such a coordinated framework, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Ministry of Environment and Energy highlighting the need for European‑level planning of critical interconnections.