Several EU member states have abandoned the modernization of the ECT and expressed their intention to withdraw from the ECT (see here). In February 2023, a Commission non-paper was leaked, which describes a coordinated withdrawal of the EU and its member states from the ECT as the ‘the most adequate option’. Such a coordinated withdrawal…

In November this year, the Energy Charter Conference will meet to adopt amendments to the ECT in accordance with the agreement in principle on the modernised ECT. However, the text of the modernised ECT has received much criticism in recent weeks (see e.g., here). Despite the fact that the modernised text of the ECT largely…

Amidst the still ongoing negotiations on the modernisation of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which were concluded with an agreement in principle yesterday (24 June 2022), the Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) delivered its ruling on Belgium’s request for an opinion on the compatibility of intra-EU investor-state arbitration under a modernised text of…