Legal mechanisms to ensure energy solidarity in international and EU law

Catherine Banet explores the nature of the legal mechanisms developed under international and European Union law to ensure energy solidarity. The chapter starts by offering a definition of energy solidarity and reflecting upon the objective pursued, as well as the preconditions for actors (trust, shared values) for developing cooperation for solidarity. The chapter continues with an analysis of the existing legal mechanisms for ensuring energy solidarity under international law and international organisations, notably: the International Energy Agency, the Energy Community, the Energy Charter Treaty and the International Energy Charter. The extent to which the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the World Trade Organization regime and the International Renewable Energy Agency promote energy solidarity is shortly addressed. The next section of the chapter analyses the mechanisms developed under EU energy law. The European integration builds from the start on cooperation within the field of energy, with the European Coal and Steel Community. The main prerequisite for solidarity to work well in the area of energy is the existence of a well-functioning internal energy market. The Energy Union and its governance system seek to further integrate the internal market, to develop a more common approach to security of supply and to create a genuine solidarity and cooperation. As part of the revision of the 2009 Gas Directive and in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission put forward new proposals to reinforce the existing solidarity mechanisms.