As EU institutions officials return to work from the summer holidays, several policy files that are meant to define the EU’s future research landscape and clean energy transition are entering, or approaching, decisive legislative stages. Before the summer break, negotiations on the tenth Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10, 2028-2034) reached a first structural milestone, with the Council of the EU agreeing partial negotiating positions on both the Horizon Europe regulation and the linked European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) in June. Both mandates leave budgetary and horizontal questions open but foresee a close institutional link between FP10 and the ECF that would shape how the programme is governed. The European Parliament’s research committee (ITRE) is set to adopt the final versions of the reports on FP10 by ITRE members Ehler and Repasi by September 10. Parliament is then expected to vote its negotiating mandate in a plenary session in the first half of October. This vote will open the door to trilogues between the Council, Parliament and Commission running from late 2026 into early 2027, with final adoption targeted for summer 2027.

On 17 July, the European Commission presented its review of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) alongside a new Electrification Action Plan, aiming to reconcile the bloc’s decarbonisation trajectory with industrial competitiveness and energy-cost concerns. The ETS proposal covers Phase 5 (2031-2040) and includes a slower annual cap-reduction trajectory, extended and increased free allocation for industry, a later phase-out for CBAM-covered sectors (now 2038), a reform of the Market Stability Reserve and expanded coverage to waste incineration and longer-haul aviation. The Electrification Action Plan includes measures to make better use of electricity grids, better design network charges, encourage smarter electricity consumption and better align electricity taxation with the EU's electrification objectives, which entails an indicative target of raising electricity's share of final energy consumption from around 23% today to 46% by 2040. Both files will now move to Parliament and Council, with negotiations expected to run into 2027. Concerning the EU ETS in particular, the lead Parliament negotiator for the ETS, the EPP’s Peter Liese, is planning to table his amendments in September.

Turning to the European Grids Package, following its presentation by the European Commission in December 2025, a July follow-up proposal amending the Electricity Market Regulation added rules on smart-grid data exchange and AI. The Package is now before Parliament and Council, with adoption targeted for around the fourth quarter of 2026. Alongside it, a revision of the EU's gas and electricity security-of-supply framework is due by the end of 2026, informed by last year's fitness check and the lessons of the April 2025 Iberian blackout, and expected to address cyber and physical infrastructure risks alongside more traditional supply concerns.

The second half of the year will also see legal revisions to align EU climate and energy policy with the bloc’s 2040 climate target entailing an emission reduction target of 90% relative to 1990. These implementing legislations would together form the backbone of the emerging post-2030 Energy Union package: revised Governance Regulation, expected as a legislative proposal in Q4 2026; a post-2030 Renewable Energy Directive framework, whose consultation closed in June; and a parallel revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive, whose consultation also concluded in June. All three are expected to be presented in the coming months.

Concerning more in particular research and innovation, two relevant legislative proposals remain pending. The European Innovation Act, initially expected in the first quarter of 2026, was postponed in March pending further inter-service coordination. On 23 June 2026, the Commission indicated it would tentatively present the proposal during the meeting of the College of 9 September 2026. The European Research Area (ERA) Act, by contrast, remains on track for presentation in the third quarter of 2026, following a consultation that drew over 700 contributions, and is expected to focus on the EU's 3%-of-GDP R&D investment target, researcher mobility and scientific freedom.

Looking further ahead, the Ireland–Lithuania–Greece Council Presidency Trio has published a draft work programme for the Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth (High Level). Covering the coming 18 months, it identifies three priorities: deepening the single market, strengthening innovation and technology leadership, and building a resilient and sustainable industrial base. The programme illustrates the broader political emphasis on competitiveness and resilience that is likely to influence relevant research, innovation, energy and industrial-policy discussions during the current and forthcoming presidencies.

Against this rapidly evolving policy backdrop, EERA will continue to monitor and inform these debates, support its community in navigating their implications, and advocate for low-carbon energy research and innovation as essential drivers of the clean energy transition and of Europe’s long-term competitiveness, resilience and energy security.