EU continues to seek ways to withdraw from international treaty protecting energy investments

The European Union is continuing to explore ways to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty, which is intended to protect energy investors from government regulatory interventions. Under a new proposal, the EU could withdraw from the treaty as a whole, while member states would have the option of remaining party to a modernised version of the agreement. Earlier this year, the European Commission said it considers withdrawal from the treaty unavoidable because it does not align with the bloc’s climate ambitions.

The question of withdrawing from the so-called Energy Charter Treaty, an international agreement dating from the late 1990s with around 50 signatories, remains a subject of debate within the EU. Several EU member states announced their intention to withdraw from this key treaty over the course of last year, namely France, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and, last but not least, Germany.

At the beginning of this year, the European Commission also weighed in on the issue, saying that a coordinated withdrawal from the treaty by the entire EU is unavoidable. According to Reuters, however, some member states, including Slovakia, Hungary and Cyprus, are interested in maintaining their commitment under an updated version of the treaty. EU officials must now find a compromise acceptable across the entire bloc.