Brussels, 16/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - European leaders are expected, at the spring European Council on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 March, to reaffirm in conclusions the importance that they attach to energy security.
“Several member states insisted that there be a reference to energy security and to climate change in the conclusions. But there will be no discussion - there are many other important issues on the table”, a Community source told EUROPE on Wednesday evening.
Diplomatic sources have revealed that the paragraph on energy security would refer to the second raft of measures for energy union, the winter package on gas security proposed by the Commission in mid-February (see EUROPE 11491) which includes proposals on transparency in inter-governmental agreements (IGAs) on energy as well as in gas contracts, an issue that provoked sharp debate at the previous spring European Council (see EUROPE 11279).
In this context, the issue of the compliance of new gas infrastructure projects with EU law and its energy security interests, such as the plan for a second Nord Stream gas pipeline between Germany and Russia, brought a lively debate at the European Council of 18 December 2015 and showed that the Nord-Stream-2 project remained a source of discord (see EUROPE 11457).
In his letter of invitation to EU heads of state and/or government on Wednesday, European Council President Donald Tusk said he wanted to use Thursday afternoon's working session, which is to be devoted to economic matters, “to agree our conclusions on climate change and energy security”. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)