The federal government has decided to withdraw from the controversial energy deal

Updated 11/30/2022 at 5:13 pm

• The Traffic Light Coalition is currently working on redrafting Germany’s trade policy.
• As part of these efforts, the government now wants to get out of the more than 20-year-old energy pact.
• Because it has been the subject of criticism for a long time. One Green politician also sees it as an unnecessary relic.

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federal government exit is German from a controversial international energy deal. In particular, it is about the Energy Charter Treaty.

economy minister robert habeck (Greens) on Wednesday talked about an important step towards greater climate protection. “The Energy Charter Treaty was and is an obstacle to the energy transition and is not compatible with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement.”

However, the exit period is 20 years, which is “bitter news,” Habeck said.

Green Politicians Call Energy Charter Treaty Waste Remnant

The Energy Charter Treaty was signed with legal force in 1994 and entered into force in 1998. Its purpose was to integrate the successor states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union into European energy markets.

Among other things, this agreement provides for mutual protection of investments. There are extraordinary arbitration boards for disputes. Environmental groups have been criticizing the treaty for some time.

The agreement has long been criticized by the Greens and environmental organizations. It allows investors, for example, to sue states before arbitral tribunals.

Leader of the Deputy Parliamentary Group of the Greens BundestagJulia Verlinden called the Energy Charter Treaty a superfluous relic of the fossil age.

“In a time of climate crisis, it is absurd that companies can sue for compensation for missing profits from fossil investments and coal and nuclear phase-outs.”

Traffic light coalition seeks to reorganize trade policy

The exit from the contract is part of an agreement on a restructuring of trade policy by the traffic light coalition factions, which has now been ratified by the cabinet.

This includes the fact that, after long criticism from the Greens, parliamentary groups cleared the way for the ratification of the EU trade agreement with Canada (Ceta). The Bundestag has to vote on it on Thursday.

Apart from Germany, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, France, the Netherlands and Spain have also announced their withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty. Italy had already resigned in 2016.

The federal government is working at European level to withdraw the EU from the treaty. (DPA/AFP/THP)
© dpa