EU members to report to Brussels energy deals with non-bloc states

In Southeast Europe, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia are EU members while Croatia will join the bloc in mid-2013. The countries in the region are heavily dependent on Russian gas supplies.

The new legislation will enable the European Commission to vet deals with third countries for compatibility with EU, but will also enable the European Commission, to support member states, at their request in cases like that which arose in 2010, when the Commission backed Poland's request for access to the Polish section of the Yamal natural gas pipeline, which is partly owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, the EP said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

"The EU is very dependent on energy imports. In the gas sector imports account for 60% of its needs and in the oil sector 80%. It is in the interest of European consumers that the EU speaks with one voice with any external energy supplier. This would lead to greater coordination among the member states and lower prices for consumers," rapporteur Kriajanis Karins was quoted as saying.

Member states will have to submit to the Commission, within three months of the legislation's entry into force, all existing bilateral intergovernmental agreements with third countries. The Commission would then have nine months in which to inform the member states concerned if its first assessment has led to doubts on the compatibility with union law.

Member states may notify the Commission of any new agreements, before or during negotiations. The Commission could then - at the request of the EU country concerned or on its own initiative, if the member state agrees - take part in the negotiations as an observer and provide advice or suggest non-binding clauses.

Where a member state negotiating an agreement has been unable to reach a firm conclusion on the its compatibility with union law, it would submit the agreement to the Commission, before closing the negotiations, and the Commission would then have four weeks in which to inform the member state of any possible doubts.

Upon ratification of an agreement, member states would be required to submit it to the Commission.

To ensure the effectiveness of this law, MEPs negotiated a requirement for the Commission to report to the EP and European Council every three years on all new energy deals and assess by January 2016 "whether the scope and the procedure of this Decision are appropriate" to ensure the compliance of intergovernmental agreements with EU law and "a high level of coordination" among EU member states.