The Energy Charter Treaty Revisited: The Russian Proposal for an International Energy Convention and the Energy Charter Treaty

Summary:

The Energy Charter Treaty and the related Energy Charter Process have gone through difficult times. In July 2009, the Russian government decided to withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty. This became official on October 19, 2009. Russia is a crucial player for the Energy Charter Treaty, mainly because it is the only large energy producer that had signed the Treaty back in 1994 and had provisionally applied it, albeit never ratified it. The Energy Charter Treaty seems to be at a dead end.

This is also due to the Treaty having become increasingly insignificant in the EU's tool box. With the Rome Declaration, the Energy Charter constituency made a step forward out of the deadlock on December 9, 2009. At the present stage, the modernization of the Energy Charter Process is on the table, as is the Russian draft for an International Energy Convention. The future of both is open, though, and dependent on the added value attached to each of them.