Meeting in Zagreb on 18 December, ministers from the Energy Community (EnC) gave a conditional green light to the accession of Ukraine and Moldova. The EnC commits its south-east European members to implementing the EU’s energy acquis. The contracting parties are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo. At the EnC’s seventh ministerial council, ministers also agreed to extend their legislative scope to include three EU energy efficiency directives.

Outgoing Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs was looking forward to «swift» adoption of the EU’s Directive (2003/55/EC) on natural gas by the Ukrainian and Moldovan parliaments. The accession protocol notes that the president of the EnC, in agreement with the EU, must verify that the two countries have «adopted» and «enacted» the Directive in question. This should effectively lead to at least legal unbundling of Ukraine’s gas company Naftogaz and would increase Europe’s security of gas supply. Ukraine would presumably also be forced to abide by the EU’s set of rules on transmission.

«The gas crisis at the beginning of this year taught us all clear lessons. Following the Treaty obligations in real terms is a challenge and Ukraine, which is a key gas partner, and Moldova have to be well prepared for it,» admitted Slavtcho Neykov, Director of EnC’s Vienna-based secretariat.

The Zagreb meeting also agreed to extend the EnC body of legislation to include Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services (requiring national energy efficiency action plans); Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings; and Directive 92/75/EEC on energy labelling and standard product information for household appliances.