Brussels, 23/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 23 May, the Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, Janez Kovac, called for the adoption of a "switch on clause" to apply the gas interconnection points to the third energy package network between EU member states and countries in the Energy Community. This will help to ensure equal treatment of internal energy market interconnection points on the borders between the European Union and the Contracting Parties and thus remove one of the obstacles to pan-European energy market integration.
During a public hearing at the European Parliament on the gas supply security package, Mr Kovac emphasised "We support Article 15 of the regulation on the switch on clause for the gas network codes. We hope it will be adopted". The Director of the Energy Community Secretariat made a request in this connection to the Commission on 2 May.
At present, EU member states are legally obliged to apply network code rules between each other, but not on the interconnection points that border the Energy Community Contracting Parties. The adoption of the Network Codes, which are already mandatory in the EU, is under preparation in the Energy Community.
To overcome this regulatory gap in the future, the Secretariat proposes to include the so-called “switch on clause” in the Network Codes on Harmonised Transmission Tariff Structures for Gas and on Incremental Capacity, currently in the EU legislative process. The provision would ensure that if a Contracting Party implements a Network Code, in a manner approved by the European Commission, the bordering EU Member State in question would be obliged to apply the same Network Code on its side of the interconnection point.
The Energy Community was set up at the end of 2005 and seeks to build an integrated energy market between the EU and South Eastern European countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo) and those in Eastern Europe (Moldova and Ukraine).
The treaty on the Energy Community sets out an energy cooperation framework between these countries on the basis of the community acquis and the principles of the internal energy market. It also seeks to harmonise the way in which the energy market functions and develops, in an effort to improve the energy security of the countries involved. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)