EU law confers on the Member State concerned by the project the power to accept or to refuse to include the
project in the list of PCIs, without the Commission being able to overrule a refusal
The applicants, Aquind Ltd, Aquind SAS and Aquind Energy Sàrl, are the promoters of a proposed electricity
interconnector connecting the electricity transmission systems of the United Kingdom and France (‘the proposed
Aquind interconnector’). Considered to be fundamental in the infrastructure needed for the completion of the
internal energy market, that project was included in the list of ‘projects of common interest’ (PCIs) of the European
Union by Delegated Regulation 2018/540. 1
Since that Union list of PCIs is to be drawn up every two years, the list established by Delegated Regulation 2018/540
was replaced by the one established by Delegated Regulation 2020/389 2
(‘the contested regulation’). The new list in annex to the contested regulation listed the proposed Aquind interconnector as one of the projects which are no
longer considered to be Union PCIs.
The applicants then brought an action before the General Court seeking annulment of the contested regulation, in
so far as it removes the proposed Aquind interconnector from the Union list of PCIs.
The Court dismisses that action in its entirety. In its judgment, it holds, inter alia, that where a Member State
decides to refuse the inclusion, in the list provided for in Regulation No 347/2013, 3 of a PCI located in its territory,
that Member State has a discretion in the matter which the European Commission cannot call into question.
Findings of the Court
In the first place, the Court examines the question whether the Commission’s statement of reasons for not including
the proposed Aquind interconnector in the contested regulation as a Union PCI, on the basis of the French
Republic’s refusal to give its approval to the inclusion of that project in the Union list of PCIs, could be regarded as a
sufficient statement of reasons. 4
In that regard, after recalling the wording of the second paragraph of Article 172 TFEU, according to which guidelines
Read more https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2023-02/cp230023en.pdf
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