Energetic Energy Relations? The Energy Charter Treaty and the European Union

Abstract

In 1990, at a European Council meeting in Dublin, Ruud Lubbers, the Dutch Prime Minister, who, at the time, presided over the Council, called for more institutionalized relations with the energy-rich economies in Eurasia following their collapse in order to benefit from their consequent opening-up and orientation towards the global market-based economic order. This led to the adoption of the 1991 European Energy Charter, which is a non-legally binding political declaration embodying key principles of international energy cooperation. The 1991 European Energy Charter paved the way for the negotiation and eventual adoption of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and the Energy Charter Process. This article describes two elements: 1) the ECT and its relationship to the European Union (EU) and 2) EU energy policy and its complications.

Keywords: Energy Charter Treaty, European Union, EU energy policy