Luxembourg, 06/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Luxembourg on Monday 6 June, the energy ministers of the EU confirmed the agreement reached in mid-May by the ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on the revision of the mechanism for the exchange of information on inter-governmental agreements (IGAs) and non-binding agreements (such as protocol agreements and memoranda of understanding) concluded in the field of energy between the member states and third countries, thereby reaching a general approach which allows negotiations with the European Parliament and the Commission to start.
This revised text aims to plug the gaps in the current information exchange mechanism on IGAs in energy between the member states of the EU and third countries, which was instituted by decision of 2012, and to reinforce transparency and coherence in the external energy relations of the EU, and thereby shore up the negotiating position of the 28 member states with regard to third countries. It takes account of the requests of the European Council of March 2015 to ensure that all agreements related to gas purchases from third-party suppliers fully comply with EU law.
The key proposal of this draft revised text, which was tabled by the Commission in February of this year in the framework of its gas security package (see EUROPE 11491), is the ex-ante evaluation by the Commission of all IGAs negotiated between the member states of the EU and third countries in the field of energy before these are signed, with the aim of making sure that the provisions of these agreements are compatible with EU law (third energy package, competition law and public procurement rules) and thereby avoiding a situation in which it is impossible for member state to renegotiate this agreement with a third country.
On Monday, the ministers broadly supported a compromise by a delicate balancing act sealed by the Dutch Presidency of the Council on the following basis: the member states will notify the Commission before negotiations open for all IGAs and will report back regularly whilst these are ongoing; the ex-ante assessment by the Commission of IGAs will apply only to gas agreements and will take no more than between six and twelve weeks; the member states may ask for an ex-post assessment of IGAs not in the field of gas; all IGAs not related to gas will be notified to the Commission on an ex-post basis (when they are ratified) and the Commission will assess them within nine months; non-binding instruments are not notifiable.
However, at this meeting of the Council, representatives of the ten or so member states which opposed this draft text right up until the compromise reached in mid-May, which include Germany, France, Italy, Hungary, Greece and Slovenia (the latter of which in fact abstained on Monday), reiterated their reservations over the central proposal of the text, the ex-ante evaluation of IGAs by the Commission, stressing the risks that this mechanism could harm the principle of subsidiarity. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)