Energy and Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen told online outlet Contexte that the EU is looking to speed up permitting for new renewables projects from years to months by cutting conservation-linked red tape.
According to Jørgensen, issuing permits may take “seven or 10 years, or even more than a decade, often. That’s totally unacceptable and it needs to fundamentally change.”
Although permits are normally granted by member states, construction needs to align with different EU rules such as environmental protection laws, which currently slow down the process so much “that they risk endangering Europe’s green transition,” the commissioner said.
His remarks come as Brussels seems to have set out to cut back on rules seen as hindering businesses, which has angered environmentalist.
