A December package of measures to boost European energy networks is generating considerable excitement in the Brussels bubble. Contexte breaks down what to expect — including proposals for faster grid connections, smarter planning, and hopefully not too much coal.

Companies representing nearly half of European steel production are warning against a low-carbon label, while NGOs worry about greenwashing. It’s an unusual alliance between businesses and climate campaigners, reflecting the Commission’s challenges in creating a cleaner EU industry. The EU executive, meanwhile, says it’s considering all options, with both carbon and competitiveness in mind.

Over the summer, a joint summit of Franco-German leaders suggested they were trying to repair long-standing divisions over the role of nuclear energy. Yet just months after the deal, confusion reigns: Paris boasts about a “historic” agreement in favour of low-carbon energy, while Berlin is walking on eggshells. Political turbulence in Paris, and the need for Germany to gain support for its own gas-powered plans, are only making the situation more complex.

A fragile deal to reform corporate supply chain laws has been upended by a knife-edge vote in the European Parliament on 22 October. An uneasy coalition of the chamber’s left wing, which thinks the simplification measures go too far, made common cause with the extreme right, which thinks they don’t go far enough, to oppose the deal agreed by centrists about a week ago. The issue will be put to a further vote on 13 November. In the meantime, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s red-tape-cutting plan has an uncertain fate, and the centrist coalition that voted her into office has suffered another blow.