The European Commission has assumed the «inevitable» coordinated withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty in the absence of a qualified majority among the EU-27 to approve the modernized text and after Germany, Spain, France and the Netherlands abstained in the vote to give a mandate to Brussels.
This change of position, which implies the acceptance of the withdrawal of the Energy Charter Treaty as the only possible solution, is the one that Spain has defended since February 2021, when, after noting the low ambition of the negotiations, it sent the first letter to Brussels warning of the situation, explained sources from the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
Together with Spain, Poland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Luxembourg also announced their withdrawal, while the European Parliament also requested a coordinated exit from the Treaty, considering that it gave greater power to private energy investors to litigate against the Member States.
Brussels had already tried unsuccessfully to promote a reform of the Charter from within the pact and asked the Member States not to leave it as it warned them that, despite their withdrawal, they would remain subject without change to the arbitration conditions provided for in the international agreement for another 20 years.
According to Commission sources consulted by Europa Press, the non-modernized Treaty «is not in line with the EU’s investment protection policy or with the European Green Pact» and the EU executive has therefore urged the EU, Euratom and the Member States to carry out a coordinated withdrawal from it.
The same EU sources have also confirmed that the European Commission has conveyed its revised position to the capitals this Tuesday at a meeting on energy at the technical level of the Twenty-Seven in Brussels.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
