Cristina Lobillo Borrero highlights inadequacy of Energy Charter Treaty in relation to EU’s current energy and climate policies

At a joint session on 21 March attended by MEPs from the Committee on International Trade (INTA) and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), Cristina Lobillo Borrero, Directorate-General for Energy’s (DG ENER) head of energy policy, set out the issues involved in the European Union’s withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty (see EUROPE 13366/9). 

Lobillo Borrero explained the complexity of the Treaty, a multilateral agreement signed in 1994 which, despite modernisation attempts between 2019 and 2022, has not been substantially revised to reflect the EU’s new energy investment and climate objectives. Several EU Member States have already withdrawn from or announced their intention to withdraw from the treaty.

In July 2023, the European Commission proposed the EU’s and Euratom’s withdrawal from the treaty, considering it incompatible with the principles of autonomy of EU law and its environmental objectives. In March 2024, a new approach for moving forward was presented, with EU withdrawal from a treaty considered outdated and incompatible with the Union’s climate and environmental objectives.

Saskia Bricmont (Greens/EFA, Belgian) praised the work’s progress, pointing out the treaty’s incompatibility with European laws and the EU’s international commitments, notably the Paris Agreement. Marc Botenga (The Left, Belgian), rapporteur for the ITRE Committee, also expressed his support, stressing the treaty’s negative impact on the regulatory sovereignty of the Member States. 

Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgian) and Nicolás González Casares (S&D, Spanish), who supported leaving the treaty, were of the same opinion.

Jörgen Warborn (EPP, Swedish) acknowledged the treaty’s obsolescence, but stressed the importance of maintaining a level playing field for Member States wishing to modernise it.

Henna Virkkunen (EPP, Finnish) also spoke of the need for a modernised treaty to encourage investment in renewable energies, while pointing to the EU as an obstacle to this modernisation. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)