Agreement on EU co-ordination of energy deals

National governments will have to give some details of energy agreements to the European Commission.

MEPs and member state negotiators reached a deal today (23 October) on a new system of European Union notification of energy infrastructure investments, which is designed to increase co-ordination between member states in their energy dealings.

The goal is both to identify gaps in infrastructure and to coordinate deals better with energy companies. Each national government will have to give the European Commission details of planned and existing energy infrastructure. The Commission would then transmit the information to all member states, after removing any commercially sensitive information.  

The concept of greater transparency over international energy deals has been a contentious subject. Full transparency over energy deals with third countries such as Russia enjoys support among central and eastern European member states such as Poland – a country eager to avoid dependence on Russia, which has been accused of playing off EU member states against each other when it comes to energy deals. But some member states such as the UK and Italy objected to the plan on the grounds of protecting commercially and diplomatically sensitive information.  

Today’s deal would identify gaps in existing infrastructure and share information about planned infrastructure projects, but it would not reveal details of third-country energy deals.

“Due to significantly changing energy landscape within and outside the EU in recent years, investment in energy infrastructure becomes a crucial issue for securing the Union’s energy supply,” said Jaroslav Neverovič (pictured), Lithuanian minister for energy, after negotiating the deal. The data collection and analysis on energy infrastructure investments will contribute to enhancing energy security by identifying possible infrastructure and investment gaps in view of an energy supply and demand balance, he added.

The deal faced a long delay because of a disagreement between the Parliament and the Council on the legal form of the regulation. The Parliament wanted it to have stronger obligations on member states, and challeneged the methodology used by the Council with the European Court of Justice (ECJ). The Court ruled that the legal form needed to be changed, and the Commission tabled a new proposal in March.

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