EU member states are starting internal deliberations on the recently renegotiated Energy Charter Treaty in council. Nikos Lavranos offers his assessment of the draft text and of what the revision heralds for the future of the agreement.
Energy Charter Treaty
Comment: How the EU disconnected itself from the Energy Charter Treaty
Last Friday Energy Charter Treaty diplomats endorsed changes to the agreement after more than two years of ’modernisation’ negotiations. Although the new text has not yet been published, a summary communication released by the ECT secretariat indicates that there will be significant changes. This effectively foreshadows a gradual ‘withdrawal’ of …
Energy Charter Treaty deal announced
Energy Charter Treaty diplomats have closed in on difficult negotiations to ‘modernise’ a treaty that originally aimed at promoting trade and protecting energy investments on the Eurasian landmass after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Week in Brussels: MC12, India, Energy Charter Treaty, Chile, anti-coercion
The fact that the international trade policy community’s attention was all on MC12 in Geneva throughout the week does not mean there weren’t other meaningful news on trade and investment policy in Brussels. More below from Rob Francis and Iana Dreyer.
Energy Charter Treaty negotiations enter decisive final stage
The latest round of Energy Charter Treaty modernisation negotiations ended on Tuesday (14 June), after an extension from three days of talks held last week. There is no final agreement yet in sight on some of the most sensitive files.
ECT negotiations : members eye June deal announcement
Observers of the ongoing Energy Charter Treaty modernisation negotiations tend to concur: the process is dominated by the European Union and its desire to have an overhauled treaty by mid 2022. After twelve rounds of negotiations among the more than fifty members of the ECT, the contours of a potential …
Energy Charter Treaty: EU seeks investor protection carve-out for fossil fuels
European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis was called to speak in today’s plenary session in parliament to update MEPs on the state of play in ongoing talks to ‘modernise’ the Energy Charter Treaty.
Comment: ECT fossil fuel coverage faces test of EU energy vs climate choices
The outcome of the latest round of negotiations towards the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty reveals that there will be sufficient flexibility to allow natural gas to remain in place for the coming years as an energy source in Europe.
Week in Brussels: Angola, Ghana, ECT, Chinese subsidies in steel wind towers and glass fiber
That was a big week in EU policy. There was an intense European Parliament plenary session during which legislation that will affect trade policy and transatlantic or EU China relations, namely the Digital Markets and Digital Services act as well as the International Procurement Instrument. But there have been other …
ECJ puts paid to intra-EU Energy Charter Treaty investor-state arbitration
The European Court of Justice declared in a judgment on Thursday (2 September) that the investor-state arbitration system under the Energy Charter Treaty is not applicable within the European Union. This effectively puts an end to ECT arbitration within the EU and will significantly increase the pressure on the ongoing …
