The FINANCIAL — The 14th Energy Community Ministerial Council approved the accession of the Republic of Georgia to the Energy Community Treaty at its meeting in Sarajevo on 14 October.
The Council also took important decisions on expanding the environmental and climate dimension of the Energy Community and adopted a list of priority infrastructure projects to facilitate the integration of the pan-European energy market, according to EU Neighbours East Info.
“With yet another new country joining the Energy Community family, this framework for the creation of a pan-European energy system is once again showing that it is relevant and successful!” said Dominique Ristori, Director General for Energy at the European Commission, when welcoming the nine ministers from the Western Balkan countries, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Georgia is expected to join the Energy Community as a fully-fledged member in the course of 2017, following the ratification of the accession agreement by the Georgian Parliament.
The Ministerial Council also adopted a list of selected projects, among them oil an pipeline between Poland and Ukraine, which may benefit from streamlined permitting, regulatory incentives, cross-border cost allocation procedures and funding under the EU’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility. The Ministerial Council also recommended to extend these benefits to Projects of Mutual Interest, which cover infrastructure of significant regional importance, including a gas interconnector between Romania and Moldova and a gas interconnector with reverse-flow capabilities between Poland and Ukraine.
The Ministerial Council also welcomed the application of Belarus to become an Observer to the Energy Community Treaty.
The Energy Community is an international organisation dealing with energy policy. The Treaty establishing the Energy Community brings together the European Union, on the one hand, and countries from the South East Europe and Black Sea region to extend the EU internal energy market to South East Europe and beyond on the basis of a legally binding framework.
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