At the 23rd meeting of the Energy Community Ministerial Council on Thursday 18 December, the European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, reaffirmed that the regulation on the phasing out of Russian gas imports would not compromise security of supply or lead to higher prices.
“This is, of course, a measure that we are implementing in close collaboration with the Member States and our neighbours and friends who could be affected”, he explained.
This regulation, which was the subject of an interinstitutional agreement on 3 December (see EUROPE 13765/3; EUROPE 13765/7), has nevertheless raised concerns among experts, as it would call into question the principle of “force majeure” invoked by the Commission, which allows existing gas contracts to be terminated.
“Of course, we examined all the legal aspects of this proposal before submitting it. We are therefore absolutely certain of its validity”, said Mr Jørgensen at a press conference.
Common imperative.
For the Energy Community, the EU’s efforts to phase out Russian gas have created “a common imperative” to strengthen regional energy security, as a press release points out.
The ministers adopted the EU’s gas storage obligations within the framework of the Energy Community, extending the EU’s basic rules on winter preparedness and crisis response to the contracting states (see EUROPE 13684/34).
The Community comprises the European Union, 9 other parties (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine) and 3 observers.
With a view to their accession to the EU, several states have also made progress in transposing the legislative package for electricity integration. This progress paves the way for the electricity market to be coupled with the EU’s internal market before accession. Moldova has already fully transposed the package, while Serbia has entered the verification phase.
At the same time, at their summit in Brussels on Thursday 18 December, European leaders held a discussion on EU enlargement. In a draft set of conclusions, they reiterated the need for the candidate countries to “pursue their reform efforts” (see other news). (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)