The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union transmitted to the Member States on Thursday 3 November a draft compromise on the EU’s position regarding the adoption of the agreement on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).
This agreement in principle was reached last June between the European Commission, representing the EU, and the signatory countries of the ECT (see EUROPE 12979/10), in the context of negotiations that began in 2020. The aim is to modernise this international treaty for the protection of investments in the energy sector, which has been in force since 1998, in order to bring it more into line with changing energy and climate realities.
While the agreement is due to be adopted at the 33rd meeting of the Energy Charter Conference in Mongolia on 22-23 November, it has come in for a lot of criticism from NGOs and other civil society organisations, but also more recently from several EU Member States.
In recent weeks, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and France have announced their intention to leave the ECT, expressing their disappointment with the outcome of the negotiations (see EUROPE 13048/5). Other countries, such as Denmark, Slovenia and Belgium, are also considering this option.
The European Commission, for its part, reaffirmed its support for the agreement in principle on Monday 24 October (see EUROPE 13049/25). It therefore forwarded a proposal for a Council decision to the Czech Presidency, according to which the EU’s position at the meeting in Mongolia is to “support” the adoption of the agreement.
The draft compromise reached by EUROPE nevertheless makes changes to the text, replacing the word “support” with “raise no objection”. This is a way of satisfying both the Member States that are in favour of leaving the ECT and those that defend the agreement, says Ignacio Arróniz Velasco, a researcher on trade and climate at the E3G think tank.
According to him, the “ambiguity” of the draft compromise will allow the ECT modernisation agreement to be adopted at international level. However, it will come back to “haunt” the Member States after November, when the Council will have to decide whether to adopt the text at EU level.
“So far, it is looking like a draw: those in favour of withdrawal have enough votes to stop the EU from supporting the new ECT, but are still short of a majority to kill it”, he told EUROPE, calling on the group of countries to “work together now to convince other countries to join them and prevent the adoption of the ‘new’ ECT”.
See the draft compromise: https://aeur.eu/f/3x9 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)