On Wednesday 7 December, negotiators from the Council and European Parliament concluded an agreement in trilogue on the revision of the 2012 decision establishing a mechanism for exchanging information on intergovernmental agreements (IGA) and non-binding instruments (memoranda of understanding, statements of intent) concluded between EU member states and third countries in the field of energy.
In order to remedy the shortcomings of the current mechanism and strengthen the EU's negotiating position with third countries, the revised text introduces a mandatory ex ante control mechanism to the terms of this agreement for IGA in the field of gas and oil, meaning that the Commission will have to assess these IGA before they can be signed by EU member states. Member states will therefore only be able to sign these IGA when the Commission has issued its opinion. When concluding the proposed IGA, member states will have to take utmost account of the Commission's opinion.
IGA related to electricity will be covered by a mandatory ex post assessment, but a review clause has been inserted into the draft revised text to possibly include electricity-related IGAs in the mandatory ex ante assessment in the future.
The review of the IGA transparency mechanism is one of two key proposals (along with the review of the 2010 regulation on the security of gas supply) in the gas security package that was tabled by the Commission in February (see EUROPE 11491). The Council released its general approach on 6 June (see EUROPE 11566) and the European Parliament's energy committee adopted its negotiation mandate on 13 October (see EUROPE 11645). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)