On Wednesday 12 March, the European Commission sent a reasoned opinion to Hungary for undermining the EU’s position on investor-state arbitration within the EU under the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and contradicting the case law of the Court of Justice (see EUROPE 12782/13).
In June 2024, 26 Member States signed a declaration on the legal consequences of the Komstroy ruling, reaffirming that the ECT arbitration clause does not apply within the EU (to disputes between a Member State and an investor from another Member State).
Hungary, for its part, adopted a unilateral declaration stating that the Komstroy ruling applied only to future arbitration proceedings, once the ECT had been amended (see EUROPE 13537/25).
The Commission, which opened infringement proceedings in July 2024, deemed Hungary’s response insufficient. Hungary now has two months to comply. If not, the matter could be referred to the Court of Justice of the EU.
To see the Commission's infringement decisions: https://aeur.eu/f/fwf (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)