Official Journal of the European Union

C series

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C/2025/4434

18.8.2025

(Case C-325/25, Eneco Wind Belgium)

(C/2025/4434)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Eneco Wind Belgium SA

Defendant: Région wallonne

Questions referred

Must Article 3(2) of Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2577 of 22 December 2022 laying down a framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy (<span class="oj-super oj-note-tag">1</span>) be interpreted as meaning that Member States must ensure that the construction and operation of plants and installations for the production of energy from renewable sources and the related grid infrastructure development are given priority solely when balancing legal interests as referred to in paragraph 1 of that provision, or when balancing legal interests for the purposes of Article 6(4) and Article 16(1)(c) of Council Directive 92/43/EEC, (<span class="oj-super oj-note-tag">2</span>) Article 4(7) of Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Article 9(1)(a) of Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, (<span class="oj-super oj-note-tag">3</span>) or does that obligation apply to any balancing of legal interests undertaken by the competent authority responsible for granting permits, including where the competing interest falls outside the scope of the three directives referred to above (in this case, landscape and heritage protection)?

Must the words ‘projects which are recognised as being of overriding public interest’ in the first sentence of Article 3(2) of that regulation be interpreted as requiring specific, general or individual recognition of the ‘overriding public interest’ of a project by the Member States, or must they be understood as referring to the fact that the presumption established by Article 3(1) of that regulation has not been rebutted, or indeed to the fact that the project is not excluded from the scope of that presumption, as permitted by Article 3(1), in fine?

Must the obligation to ensure, at least for projects which are recognised as being of overriding public interest, that, in the planning and permit-granting process, the construction and operation of plants and installations for the production of energy from renewable sources and the related grid infrastructure development are given ‘priority’ when balancing legal interests in the individual case, laid down by Article 3(2) cited above, be interpreted as establishing an absolute priority in favour of such projects – subject to the environmental condition relating to species protection contained in that paragraph – or should it be understood as a priority in principle, from which Member States may depart by giving specific reasons?

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(1) OJ 2022 L 335, p. 36.

(2) Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (OJ 1992 L 206, p. 7).

(3) Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conservation of wild birds (OJ 2010 L 20, p. 7).

ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/4434/oj

ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)

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