Energy Community in South Eastern Europe

Skopje, 6-7 June 2005

Conclusions

Parliamentarians from the South Eastern Europe countries met in Skopje on 6 and 7 June 2005 at the invitation of the FYROMacedonia Parliament. The Conference was organized by the European Commission and the Committee of European Affairs of the FYROMacedonia Parliament, financed by TAIEX funds, and with the political support of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. The Conference was attended by parliamentary delegations from most of the SEE countries. The Delegations were composed of MPs from European and foreign policy committees, as well as parliamentary committees dealing with energy issues.

All participants expressed appreciation for the excellent hospitality extended by the FYROMacedonia Parliament.

The Conference was opened by welcoming remarks from Ms. Karolina Ristova Aasterud, Chair of the Committee for European Affair of the FYROMacedonia Assembly. In the Opening Ceremony, the Conference was addressed by Dr. Ljupco Jordanovski, President of the FYROMacedonia Assembly, Mr. Paolo Gozzi, EC DG ENLARG, Mr. Emmanuel Cabau, EC DG TREN, as well as Mr. Bernard Snoy, Director of Working Table II at the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.

In the first session, the representative of the European Commission (DG TREN) explained how the Energy Community Treaty (EC Treaty), recently initialed by the SEE and the European Community, would extend the benefits of the European Union internal energy market to South Eastern Europe. He outlined the important political commitments already undertaken by the countries of the region within the framework of the two Memoranda of Understanding and the progress already achieved under the so-called Athens Process. The representative of the European Commission mentioned that the signing of the Treaty is expected to take place in the second half of 2005. The process of ratification has a crucial importance in order to reach the objective of having a sustainable and open market for trading gas and electricity in South Eastern Europe. This allowed Parliamentarians to familiarize themselves with the prospective key features of the Treaty.

The second session on the ratification procedures in the South Eastern Europe Parliaments and the procedure in the European Union showed the specific mechanisms and the possible length of the legislative process in the respective countries and indicated the challenges for the ratification process and the main issues likely to be raised during that process. When the Treaty is concluded, it is most likely that the national Parliaments will be invited to ratify it in line with prevailing constitutional arrangements. The speakers expressed their support to the process and their commitment to overcome the potential obstacles.

The third session provided the opportunity for Parliamentarians to express points of view on the benefits and costs of the proposed transformation and regional integration of the South Eastern Europe energy sector, and the challenges faced by their countries and possible solutions on issues such as tariff reform, affordability for more vulnerable social groups, impact of restructuring in the energy sector on employment, public consultation and involvement of social partners and other NGOs. The crucial importance of the environmental dimension of the Energy Community was also recognized. Parliamentarians stressed the need for further work on advancing the public acceptance of the implementation of the EC Treaty, including the prospective reforms it implies in the energy sectors of the countries of SEE. Parliamentarians also offered their political support for a more systematic dialogue with the related Social Partners, i.e. Employers’ Organizations and Trade Unions, NGOs and other concerned stakeholders. For that reason, it was suggested to have national follow-up conferences and public hearings, where Members of the concerned Committees inside the Parliaments would be given an opportunity to present the Energy Community Treaty to the public to familiarize it with the idea and meaning of the Treaty and foreseeable impact and benefits on their countries, and thus to raise acceptance of the EC Treaty. In this regard, the FYROMacedonia Assembly welcomed the kind offer of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and agreed to organize jointly a conference with the stakeholders in the country.   

In the fourth session, presentations were made on the infrastructure, particularly in generation and transmission, necessary for the creation of a fully integrated electricity and gas market in South Eastern Europe and the donor coordination process.   The representatives of the major international financial institutions and donors (WB, EBRD, EAR, USAID, CIDA and SECI) stated that the fulfillment of the commitments under the Athens Process was the key condition for their lending and/or technical assistance. The international financial institutions provided information on their financing for energy infrastructure in SEE. An overview of human training and institutional capacity building in support of the Energy Community was provided by bilateral and multilateral donors. It was stressed that the stable and harmonized legal framework provided by the Energy Community would be crucial in attracting foreign private investors to the region.

The first session on the second day concentrated on harmonization of national legislations, which is essential not only for fulfilling the legally binding obligations of the EC Treaty but also for creating a single and stable regulatory market framework throughout Europe and for a smooth integration of the regional market into the European Union single market. After discussing the status of the implementation of the commitments under the Athens Process (benchmarking report), the Parliamentarians were briefed on the comparative experiences of the national Parliaments of the Member States in the harmonization process and then identified the priority needs for legal changes in the energy sector and related areas. The implementation of the EC Treaty obligations was identified as a pilot project and an excellent opportunity for the Committees of European Affairs to develop practices for scrutinizing the EU legislation.

During the concluding session the role of the European Union’s and the national Parliaments was underlined, considering that the Energy Community Treaty from the political point of view is promoted as a new strategy for the integration of the South Eastern Europe countries into the European Union. The Parliamentary initiative to participate to and actively support implementation of the EC Treaty, which found its expression in this Conference, was recognized as an excellent example of regional ownership and cooperation. The Parliamentarians believe that this initiative has the potential to energize the process of EU integration of SEE countries   in full conformity with the EU Thessaloniki Agenda.

In order to improve the parliamentary procedure of the ratification of the EC Treaty, Parliamentarians  will create an informal network for cooperation and use the proposed structure of a Balkan COSAC[1]. Thus, they could  jointly develop road maps for the parliamentary tasks involved , checklists for the implementation of the acquis communautaire in the energy sector and a communication strategy to explain to the public the Treaty and the challenges it raises.

[1]COSAC stands for Conference of Community and European Affairs Committees of Parliaments of the European Union