EU sets 2026 legislative priorities with transport, energy and simplification at core of competitiveness push

The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission have agreed on a Joint Declaration on EU legislative priorities for 2026 that places transport, energy and mobility firmly at the centre of the Union’s competitiveness and simplification agenda.

The declaration, approved by the Council and due to be signed by the presidents of the three institutions on the margins of the European Council meeting on 18 December, reflects a shared commitment to accelerate legislative delivery in response to mounting geopolitical, economic and industrial pressures. It draws directly on the Commission’s 2026 work programme and the Strategic Agenda for 2024–2029.

Transport and energy feature prominently under the objective of securing Europe’s sustainable prosperity, competitiveness and simplification. The institutions commit to prioritising proposals that remove regulatory bottlenecks, unlock investment and reduce costs across the Single Market, while maintaining the EU’s climate objectives through what they describe as a pragmatic, cost-effective and socially balanced clean transition.

Energy policy is framed as a core competitiveness issue. The declaration commits the institutions to building a genuine Energy Union before 2030, bringing down energy prices, strengthening supply chains and reducing strategic dependencies. It reiterates the objective of eliminating Russian oil and gas from the EU energy mix and links energy resilience directly to industrial competitiveness and security.

Mobility and transport are embedded across several priority strands. The automotive package is explicitly listed among the legislative files to be prioritised in 2026, alongside the European grids package, which is intended to support electrification, infrastructure resilience and cross-border integration. The focus on grids reflects concerns that infrastructure constraints are increasingly a limiting factor for transport decarbonisation, industrial electrification and investment.

Simplification is positioned as a horizontal principle cutting across transport, energy and industrial policy. The institutions commit to accelerating work on all proposals with a simplification and competitiveness dimension, including multiple omnibus packages covering SMEs, defence readiness, chemicals and digital regulation. These efforts are intended to reduce regulatory burdens while improving implementation and enforcement.

The declaration also links transport and energy policy to broader objectives on economic security and technological sovereignty. Public procurement, investment frameworks and industrial policy are expected to incentivise European production, strengthen supply chains and support scale-up in key technologies, including those relevant to clean mobility and energy systems.

Alongside competitiveness, the institutions underline the need to maintain social balance and affordability, including in areas such as housing, cost of living and job creation, while advancing cohesion across regions and cities. Migration, border management, democracy and the rule of law are addressed as parallel priorities, but the declaration signals that growth, simplification and industrial delivery will dominate the legislative agenda.

EU e-fuel supply set to fall short of FuelEU Maritime targets, T&E Observatory finds

Europe is unlikely to produce enough renewable e-fuels domestically to meet its own maritime decarbonisation requirements under EU law, according to Transport & Environment’s Observatory 2025 briefing.

The analysis finds that current and announced European projects would not deliver sufficient volumes of renewable fuels of non-biological origin to meet the uptake thresholds set under the FuelEU Maritime Regulation, nor the indicative port supply targets under the Renewable Energy Directive.

Transport & Environment identifies around 80 green hydrogen and e-fuel projects across Europe that could theoretically supply the maritime sector. Combined, these projects could deliver approximately 3.6 million tonnes of oil equivalent per year by the early 2030s. Only a limited share of this output is dedicated to shipping, with most capacity targeting aviation, chemicals or export markets.

The briefing concludes that projected maritime-dedicated volumes would remain below the 1 percent RFNBO sub-target applicable from 2031 under FuelEU Maritime and well short of the conditional 2 percent threshold foreseen for the mid-2030s. Without corrective policy action, the report warns that the EU may become increasingly dependent on imported e-fuels to meet regulatory requirements.

Project maturity remains a key constraint. Only a small number of maritime-focused e-fuel facilities are currently operational, while a significant proportion of the pipeline remains pre-final investment decision. Transport & Environment notes that delivery timelines are vulnerable to permitting delays, financing constraints and uncertainty over long-term offtake.

The briefing also records a contraction in the European project pipeline compared with previous editions of the observatory, with several projects postponed, restructured or cancelled. High capital costs, competition from aviation mandates and the absence of stable price support for maritime fuels are identified as contributing factors.

FuelEU Maritime establishes a progressive reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of energy used by ships calling at EU ports and includes specific incentives for RFNBO use. Transport & Environment argues, however, that these incentives remain insufficient to trigger large-scale investment in e-methanol and e-ammonia production.

The report points to a broader mismatch between EU regulatory ambition and investment signals. While future demand is clearly defined in law, producers remain exposed to market risk during the early deployment phase, undermining Europe’s ability to build a domestic e-fuel industry aligned with its climate, industrial and energy security objectives.

Transport & Environment calls for stronger public financing, including the use of EU Emissions Trading System revenues to support maritime RFNBO production. It also argues that EU-level auction mechanisms should prioritise shipping e-fuels, given that advanced biofuels already benefit from established support frameworks.

Infrastructure constraints persist, with limited bunkering capacity for e-methanol and e-ammonia across European ports identified as a further barrier to uptake.

Without additional policy intervention, the briefing concludes, the EU risks missing its maritime fuel targets and ceding industrial leadership as FuelEU Maritime enters its compliance phase.