11th ENERGY COMMUNITY MINISTERIAL COUNCIL MEETING CONCLUSIONS
1. The Ministerial Council meeting was opened on 24 October by H.E. Mrs. Zorana Mihajlović –
Minister of Energy, Development and Environmental Protection – on behalf of
Serbia as Presidency in office. Mr Fabrizio Barbaso, Deputy Director-General for
Energy in the European Commission, and Vice-Minister Aleksandras Spruogis of
Lithuania, for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, welcomed the
participants on behalf of the European Union as Vice-Presidency.
2. The Ministerial Council thanked the Presidency Authorities for their hospitality.
3. The Ministerial Council approved the agenda of the meeting.
4. The Ministerial Council adopted the A-points as indicated in Annex 1.
5. Following its request under Article 95 of the Energy Community Treaty, Finland
was welcomed as a Participant EU Member State in the Energy Community
process.
6. The Ministerial Council welcomed the application of Georgia for full membership
and called upon the European Commission and Georgia, with the support of the
Energy Community Secretariat, to start negotiations on membership early
enough so that an Accession Protocol with Georgia could be signed at the next
Ministerial Council meeting in October 2014.
7. The Ministerial Council appointed Mr. Wolfgang Urbantschitsch, Prof. Dr. Rajko
Pirnat and Prof. Dr. Helmut Schmitt von Sydow as members and Mr Nikola
Radovanović (Serbia), Mr Visar Hoxha (Kosovo*1
) and Ms Amela Alihodžić
(Bosnia &Herzegovina) as alternate members of the Advisory Committee for the
period 2014-2015.
8. Taking note of the progress in implementing the energy efficiency acquis in the
Energy Community, and in view of the 2012 upgrade of such rules in the
European Union, the Ministerial Council adopted a Recommendation to
implement Directive 2012/27/EU in the Energy Community with certain
adaptations. The Recommendation should serve as the legal basis for the
Contracting Parties to prepare its implementation, with a view to adopt a binding
decision, in 2014.
9. The Director of the Secretariat, Mr. Janez Kopač, reported on the main
conclusions of the Security of Supply Group, than met on 23rd October.
10. Upon proposal by the European Commission and taking into account the
discussions at the Permanent High Level Group (PHLG), the Ministerial Council
adopted a decision adapting Directive 2001/80/EC on the limitation of emissions
of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants, and a decision
implementing Chapter III, Annex V and Article 72(3)-(4) of Directive 2010/75/EU
and amending Article 16 and Annex II of the Treaty.
11. Upon request of Ukraine, the Ministerial Council will endeavour to consider a
decision based on Article 24 of the Energy Community Treaty to take into
account the specific situation of this Contracting Party as concerns the
implementation of acquis on reduction of emissions from existing large
combustion plants.
12. The Ministerial Council reviewed the state of play of the implementation of the
Treaty on the ground of the annual Implementation Report as presented by the
Secretariat. Welcoming the progress made in the Contracting Parties the
Ministerial Council expressed its concerns with regard to the lack of progress in
effective market opening and slow regional integration. The Report provides
specific conclusions and country specific recommendations, which were
supported by the Ministerial Council.
13. The Ministerial Council recognized the importance of the transposition and
implementation of the Third Energy Package in the context of providing security
of supply and adequate conditions for investments. In this context the Third
Energy Package related activities should continue to be in the center of the
activities over the next reporting period.
14. Upon Reasoned Request by the Secretariat and having heard both parties to the
case as well as the opinion of the Advisory Committee, the Ministerial Council in
accordance with Article 91 of the Treaty declared the existence of a breach by
Bosnia and Herzegovina of its obligations in the gas sector. The Ministerial
Council called upon Bosnia and Herzegovina to rectify its breach by adopting a
relevant legislation by June 2014. The Law should be compliant with Directive
2009/73/EC and Regulation (EC) 715/2009. The Ministerial Council will consider
the failure to do so as a serious and persistent breach within the meaning of
Article 92 of the Treaty and, in such a case, invited the Secretariat to launch the
required proceedings.
15. The Ministerial Council welcomed the report by Serbia on the agreements
reached with Kosovo* affecting pending dispute settlement case ECS-3/08. It
called upon both parties to keep working towards a full implementation of said
agreements, under the auspices of the Secretariat and the European
Commission. The Ministerial Council took note of the Secretariat’s intention to
submit a Reasoned Request to the Ministerial Council for its meeting in October
2014, should no further progress be made in due time.
11TH MC – 24th October 2013- CONCLUSIONS
16. The Ministerial Council adopted the list of Projects of Energy Community Interest
(PECIs) and called on the Contracting Parties to take necessary actions to
facilitate their timely and effective implementation. Because of their regional
importance, it is imperative that the implementation of PECIs takes place in full
compliance with the Energy Community acquis and the relevant national
legislation. Furthermore, the PECI label on the projects is without prejudice to the
results of environmental impact assessments to be carried out in line with the
Contracting Parties’ obligations under the Energy Community Treaty, as well as
any other relevant standards and procedures applicable under national or
international law. Where there is evidence that the Energy Community acquis or
national legislation is breached, or an environmental impact assessment has not
been performed properly, the Secretariat may initiate infringement action and
propose the PHLG that the PECI label for the project be removed.
17. The Ministerial Council thanked Ms Catharina Sikow Magny, Head of Unit at the
European Commission, for her work as Chair of the Energy Strategy – PECI Task
Force.
18. In order to facilitate the implementation of Regulation (EU) no 347/2013 on
guidelines for trans-European energy infrastructure, the Ministerial Council invited
the European Commission and the Secretariat to prepare the proposals for
adoption of certain provisions applicable to the Energy Community. The
Ministerial Council invited the Secretariat to carry out a review of the
implementation process of the PECIs and the experience of cooperation among
national regulators and present its finding report on the progress, at its next
meeting in October 2014. In light of the findings, the Ministerial Council shall
decide whether the PECI list should be updated at regular intervals.
19. The Ministerial Council re-called the core competence of regulators in promoting
new investments. The Ministerial Council underlined its expectation for regulatory
tariff systems to financially stimulate new gas and electricity infrastructure
projects, and PECI in particular, via development of adequate risk-return ratios.
The Ministerial Council further stressed the need for regulatory frameworks to
provide stable, predicable, transparent and non-discriminatory rules and
accelerated procedures in order to attract investments. It endorsed a series of
regulatory incentives (Annex 2).
20. Under Article 97 of the Treaty, the Ministerial Council decided to extend the
duration of the Energy Community Treaty until 2026. This decision is without
prejudice to any internal procedures which may be required under national law.
21. The Ministerial Council set up a High Level Reflection Group mandated to make
an independent assessment of the adequacy of the institutional set up and
working methods of the Energy Community to the achievement of the objectives
of the Energy Community Treaty, taking into consideration the evolution of this
organization over the past years and its extended Membership, and to make
proposals for improvements to the Ministerial Council in 2014. Professor Jerzy
Buzek was appointed as chairman of the Group.
22. The Ministerial Council thanked the current Serbian Presidency of the Energy
Community in the person of Zorana Mihajlović and welcomed the 2014
Presidency – Ukraine.
23. The Ministerial Council took note of the priorities for the 2014 Presidency
presented by Minister Stavytsky, which will focus on:
• Preparation of proposals for updating the Treaty, which would largely
unite efforts of the Energy Community member states in energy sector
development, improve the competitiveness of companies in the energy
market and provide more effective mechanisms for interest protection,
mutual assistance, giving equal opportunity to use the European Union
instruments to achieve common objectives.
• Increasing European energy independence and security by:
– Functioning of the gas market in the reverse direction on
the border between Ukraine and the EU and creation of
the East European Gas Hub based on the Ukrainian
underground gas storages (UGS);
– Developing the alternative transit routes for security
supplies of energy resources;
– Developing and adapting the legislation;
– Attracting the investments to implement the PECI
projects.
These Conclusions are adopted.
Done in Belgrade on October 24, 2013 For the Ministerial Council,
THE PRESIDENCY
11TH MC – 24th October 2013- CONCLUSIONS
Annex 1
1) The Ministerial Council adopted the Annual Report on the Activities of the
Energy Community pursuant to Art. 52 of the Treaty.
2) The Ministerial Council took note of the Report on the Audit of the Energy
Community Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2012,
further, of the Budget Committee’s Report on Audit 2012 as well as of the
Director’s Report under Art. 75 of the Treaty on the execution of the
Energy Community Budget 2012.
3) Based on the information under item 2 above, the Ministerial Council
adopted a Decision on Discharge of the Director of the Secretariat from
his management and administrative responsibility for the financial year
2012.
4) The Ministerial Council adopted the Conclusions of the 27th, 28th, 29th and
30th Permanent High Level Group meetings.
5) The Ministerial Council approved proposed amendments to the current
version of Internal Rules of Procedure of the Ministerial Council.
6) The Ministerial Council adopted amendments of Annex IV of the Treaty
establishing the Energy Community after Croatia’s accession to the EU.
7) The Ministerial Council adopted a decision on the implementation of
Commission Regulation (EU) No 147/2013 of 13 February 2013
amending Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 of the European Parliament
and of the Council on energy statistics, as regards the implementation of
updates for the monthly and annual energy statistics in the Energy
Community.
8) The Ministerial Council approved the Work Program and corresponding
Budget for the biennium 2014-2015.
9) The Ministerial Council adopted Outline of Social Strategy.
11TH MC – 24th October 2013- CONCLUSIONS
Annex 2 – Regulatory investment incentives
While acknowledging that the risk profile of a regulatory framework builds on a
complex combination and interplay of individual components that need to be
carefully considered when analyzing the level of incentives, the Ministerial
Council calls upon regulators to especially:
− issue decisions on the allocation of costs for cross-border projects and
their inclusion in the regulated network tariffs;
− grant specific incentives to eligible projects characterized by high risks,
including but not exclusively:
• Rules of anticipatory investment;
• Rules for recognition of certain costs before commissioning of
the project;
• The introduction of longer regulatory periods (i.e. timeframes
within which regulated tariffs are not changed or reviewed by the
national regulatory authority but only adjust according to the
parameters of the tariff methodology set by the authority) with a
view to facilitate investments by increasing the stability and
predictability of the regulatory system;
• Additional return on capital invested for the project;
• Stimulative, project-targeted depreciation deviating from the
general tariffication methodology. This may involve either longer
(e.g. to facilitate greenfield projects with high start up costs) or
shorter depreciation periods;
• “Negative” incentives following which congestion revenues that
are not used for investments in the network could lead to
reduction of the regulated network charge, as envisaged by
Article 6(6) of Regulation (EC) 1228/2003;
• Other measures deemed necessary.
Where national regulators are not equipped with sufficient powers for executing
the above mentioned activities yet, the Ministerial Council urges the national
legislators of the Contracting Parties to empower regulators accordingly without
delay but by end of March 2014 the latest.
energjia.al, 25.10.2013