Ten-thousand euros to print binders full of documents. Years in court to defend lawsuits. Hiring local contractors to lobby small-town bureaucrats.
Energy producers say these time-consuming bottlenecks are thwarting Europe’s push to ditch Russia and be more self-reliant.
European leaders promised to scale up the continent’s renewable-power capacity while reducing imports of Russian gas, but words move faster than permits. Builders say fast-tracking the energy transition means unraveling red tape and reconciling lofty, national climate ambitions with the limited capacity of most local authorities to implement them.