In Brussels on Thursday 2 March, the European Parliament approved, with 542 votes in favour, 87 against and 19 abstentions, new European rules for the transparency of inter-governmental agreements (IGAs) between the member states of the EU and third countries in the field of energy, which provide for ex-ante checks to be carried out by the European Commission on these agreements before they are signed.
In so doing, the MEPs approved the agreement concluded in December 2016 between Parliament's negotiators, led by their rapporteur, Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Poland), and the Slovak Presidency of the Council on the revision of the 2012 decision establishing an information exchange mechanism on IGAs and the non-binding instruments (memorandum of understanding, declaration of intent, etc.) entered into between the member states of the EU and third countries in the field of energy (see EUROPE 11684, 11685).
In order to plug the gaps in the current mechanism and strengthen the EU's negotiating position with regard to third countries, the revised text brings in a compulsory mechanism of ex-ante controls by the Commission on the compliance of IGAs on gas and oil with EU law, before they are signed by the member states.
The states will not be able to sign these agreements until the Commission has returned its opinion. When concluding these agreements, they must abide by the Commission's opinion as far as possible.
By request of the member state or if it deems it necessary, the Commission may attend or ask to attend the negotiations with the third country in question as an observer, but this attendance will be subject to the written approval of the member state in question.
For their part, IGAs on electricity will be subject to a compulsory ex-post assessment, but a revision clause has been added to the revised draft text providing that these may be subjected to compulsory ex-ante assessments at a later date.
“This legislation will ensure the energy security of the member states, creating effective ex-ante mechanisms for the European Commission to check draft agreements on gas and oil supplies, and to verify their compliance both with the EU law and with energy security needs”, Krasnodębski said.
In this context, the report are called upon the Commission to “be consistent and act with determination as regards its decisions on the OPAL gas pipeline and the controversial North Stream 2 project”.
The revised mechanism for the transparency of IGAs is one of two key proposals (along with the revision of the 2010 regulation on the security of gas supplies) of the gas security package, which was proposed by the Commission in February 2016 (see EUROPE 11491), and the first legislative element of the Energy Union project, which was launched in 2014. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)