On Wednesday 19 June, the Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) were due to vote on the refusal to grant Russia and Belarus the benefits of Part III of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) agreement on the promotion and protection of investments under this treaty (see EUROPE 13381/2).
At the time of writing, the text had not yet been officially adopted, as the meeting had been delayed and was still in progress.
This rejection of Russia and Belarus is exercised by the EU, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and all the Member States which are or have been contracting parties to the ECT, the EU Council having recently approved a coordinated exit from the controversial treaty (see EUROPE 13420/2).
The decision follows a proposal by the European Commission, based on Article 17 of the EC Treaty, concerning legal entities owned or controlled by citizens or nationals of the Russian Federation or the Republic of Belarus and which do not carry out substantial commercial activities in the area of the contracting party (or former contracting party) in which they are incorporated.
In addition, the decision allows benefits to be refused to any investment, within the meaning of the ECT, that is an investment by an investor from these two countries.
It is part of the EU’s restrictive measures banning transactions with investors from Russia, “over its war of aggression against Ukraine”, and from Belarus, “an accomplice in this war of aggression”.
To see the decision concerning the Union: https://aeur.eu/f/cq6
To see the Euratom decision: https://aeur.eu/f/cq7 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)