CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ HYBRID THREATS TO ENERGY SECURITY: PERSPECTIVES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW be based on environmentally sound, socially acceptable and economically viable policies, with emphasis on mutual responsibilities and benefits” 94 . The states also acknowledge that “enhanced energy trade is a powerful catalyst for strengthening regional and international cooperation in energy security and for sustainable use of energy among all stakeholders, including energy producing, transit and consuming countries”. 95 Those were some of the reasons why the IEC was adopted. Speaking about the objectives of this document, the signatories state that in energy cooperation they seek “sustainable energy development, improving energy security and maximising the efficiency of production, conversion, transport, distribution and use of energy, to enhance safety in a manner which would be socially acceptable, economically viable, and environmentally sound.” 96 Thus the aim is both to ensure the security of the energy and its sustainability. First field discussed in the IEC is the aim to develop the trade in energy consistent with states’ existing international obligations; secondly, the states declare that they will work on the cooperation in energy field; and thirdly, they declare that they will seek energy efficiency and environmental protection. They are willing to ensure access to markets and will seek liberalisation of trade in energy. Furthermore, the signatories stress “that transit of energy products through their territories is essential for the liberalisation of trade in energy products. Transit should take place in economic and environmentally and commercially sound conditions. They stress the importance of the development of international energy transmission networks and their interconnection, including cross-border oil and gas networks and power grids.” 97 Furthermore, for the protection and encouragement of investments, the Charter states that “In order to promote the international flow of investments, the signatories will make every effort to remove all barriers to investment in the energy sector and provide, at national level, for a stable, transparent legal framework for foreign investments, in conformity with the relevant international laws and rules on investment and trade.” 98 Speaking about geographic coverage, Pami Aalto notes that “The 64 signatory states of the International Energy Charter as of August 2015 exceeds the number of original signatories to the European Energy Charter [...] or the Energy Charter Treaty [...]. Yet it falls short of the number of signatories to the Statute of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Seventy-five states signed the IRENA Statute in 2009. Today it has 143 members, with a further 29 states in accession.” 99 According to the information provided in the website dedicated to Energy Charter process, to the date (June 2019) there are 84 signatory states and 6 international organisations which have signed the IEC. “Such wide-ranging consultation among states was important given the relatively diverse group of signatories to the European Energy Charter diminished to a practically Eurasian core group of countries when its binding supplement, the Energy Charter Treaty, was signed in 1994. [...] The most prominent completely new entrant to multilateral energy governance in a signatory capacity to the International Energy Charter

94 The International Energy Charter. op. cit. 55, p. 11. 95 Ibid.

96 Ibid, p. 13. 97 Ibid, p. 18. 98 Ibid. 99 AALTO, op. cit. 92, p. 94.

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