Chaired by Bosnian foreign minister Mirko Šarović and director general for energy at the European Commission Dominique Ristori, the Energy Community ministerial council is expected to give the thumbs-up at its 14th meeting on Friday 14 October (in Sarajevo) to Georgia joining the Energy Community.
Alongside the decision on Georgia’s membership, the ministers will issue a decision on energy infrastructure projects of common interest for the Energy Community and a number of decisions on new EU legislation.
Set up in late 2005, the Energy Community aims to establish an integrated energy market between the EU and its neighbours. It has eight members at present in addition to the EU (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine) and four observer nations (Armenia, Georgia, Norway and Turkey).
The Energy Community founding treaty establishes a framework of energy cooperation among its members based on EU energy acquis and the principles of the internal energy market. It aims to harmonise the functioning and development of the energy market to boost security of supply for its members. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)