At the Competitiveness Council on Thursday 7 March, European ministers approved the European Commission’s proposal for a coordinated exit from the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), following the agreement reached the previous day by the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) (see EUROPE 13365/28).
This Commission proposal was introduced in July 2023 (see EUROPE 13218/6) in an attempt to find a way out of the deadlock in the negotiations, with some Member States arguing in favour of modernising the Treaty, but unable to find a majority.
On 1 March, the Commission made a parallel proposal giving Member States the opportunity to approve the modernisation of the Treaty at the next ECT conference at the end of the year, while allowing the EU itself and Euratom to leave the Treaty (see EUROPE 13363/4).
However, a recital states that Member States will not be able to remain contracting parties to the ECT once the Union withdraws from it, “unless they are authorised to do so by the Union”.
A total of 11 countries have already announced their intention to leave the treaty (Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Poland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal and the United Kingdom - see EUROPE 13356/35), criticising this international investment agreement dating from the 1990s, used by fossil fuel companies and investors to challenge governments on their climate regulations.
Following the decision at Coreper, Audrey Changoe, Trade and Investment Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network Europe (CAN Europe), said that “there should be no room for a dangerous treaty that allows fossil fuel companies to sue governments for climate action and disrupt a just energy transition”.
The withdrawal proposal will then have to be validated by the European Parliament, before a final decision by the European ministers in April. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)