The European Commission has launched a four-week call for evidence to inform a revision of the EU’s energy security framework, with a legislative proposal expected in early 2026.
The review aims to adapt the Union’s arrangements to emerging risks, including climate-related stress on infrastructure, cyber threats to critical assets, and heightened geopolitical pressures on fuel and electricity supplies.
According to the Commission notice, the consultation runs until 13 October 2025 and will gather input from governments, regulators, operators and stakeholders across the energy system. The objective is to ensure that security-of-supply rules, monitoring tools and emergency mechanisms reflect a changed risk landscape following the 2021–2023 energy crisis and subsequent market rebalancing. The initiative will examine how physical and cyber resilience can be improved, how better cross-border coordination can be embedded, and how climate adaptation measures should be integrated into planning for electricity, gas and fuels infrastructure.
The scope of the review extends beyond traditional gas-supply concerns. Commission material points to a need for system-wide security measures, from transmission grids and LNG terminals to storage, interconnectors and new hydrogen corridors. It also references the importance of digital security for operational technology and energy data platforms, reflecting an increased focus on cyber risk and the protection of cross-border assets designated as European critical infrastructure.
The initiative forms part of a broader policy sequence. Over the summer, the Commission updated elements of the Security of Gas Supply framework—such as regional risk groups—to account for changes in supply patterns since 2021. In parallel, it has trailed proposals to address power-grid bottlenecks and improve market integration, with an electricity “grids package” expected before year-end. Together, these strands indicate a shift from crisis-mode measures towards a more structural approach to system security and resilience.
Officials signal that lessons from recent shocks will shape the revision. The EU’s rapid diversification away from Russian pipeline gas required emergency regulation on storage filling, joint purchasing, and price-mitigation tools. While wholesale prices have eased from their peaks, the Commission argues that governance arrangements should be updated to manage new vulnerabilities, including climate-driven extreme weather, synchronous failures across interconnected systems, and cyber incidents targeting energy operators. The forthcoming proposal in the first quarter of 2026 is expected to codify these lessons into a consolidated framework.
Stakeholder submissions are invited on several operational questions. These include the adequacy of existing early-warning and crisis-response protocols; the effectiveness of regional coordination and solidarity arrangements; the role of storage and demand-side measures in security planning; and the treatment of low-carbon gases, hydrogen and cross-sector couplings such as power-to-heat. Respondents are also asked to assess whether definitions and metrics used in security-of-supply legislation remain appropriate for a system undergoing electrification and digitalisation.
Market participants will watch the interaction between the security review and forthcoming infrastructure plans. Commission leaders have highlighted eight priority grid bottlenecks and the need for “energy highways” to support electricity flows, reduce price fragmentation and increase resilience. Measures to accelerate permitting, standardise system-strength requirements and expand interconnection capacity could be considered alongside reforms to emergency tools and data sharing.
The cyber dimension is likely to feature prominently. Guidance on protecting industrial control systems, incident reporting and information-sharing obligations for operators of essential services already exists under EU horizontal cybersecurity law. The energy-specific framework may tighten sectoral expectations, given the potential for cascading failures from targeted attacks on substations, pipelines or market platforms. The Commission’s energy-security pages emphasise ongoing actions to safeguard critical infrastructure, suggesting that alignment with the wider EU cyber regime will be a priority.
The consultation also takes place against the backdrop of energy-system decarbonisation and the phase-out of Russian fossil fuels. Security-of-supply planning is likely to incorporate the expansion of renewables, storage and flexible demand, while addressing interim dependencies such as LNG imports and nuclear fuel supply chains. External energy relationships—interconnectors with neighbours and coordination with G7 partners—may be reflected in contingency planning or in revised stress-test assumptions. Independent analysis has urged a whole-system view of security, spanning fuels, grids and supply chains.
Next steps will depend on the consultation outcome. The Commission is expected to publish a summary of feedback and to develop options for a revised legal instrument ahead of its first-quarter 2026 timetable. Any proposal would then proceed through the ordinary legislative procedure, requiring agreement by the Council and the European Parliament. For operators and investors, the process will be monitored for signals on future resilience standards, data and incident-reporting duties, and the balance between national and regional responsibilities during emergencies.
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