The Parliamentary Commission on Foreign Policy approved an advisory opinion on the advisability of denouncing the Treaty.
This document has been in force since the late 1990s and was intended to become the basis for the creation of an open international energy market. To date, a number of European countries have already completed the procedure of withdrawal from the ECT, including Romania, Poland, Italy and France
According to Moldovan MPs, the agreement should be denounced because it “promotes investment in fossil fuels to the detriment of more environmentally friendly energy solutions”.
The initiative to withdraw from the Treaty belongs to the Ministry of Energy. It believes that the ECT is incompatible with Moldova’s new energy security priorities, including diversification of energy sources and transition to renewable energy.
“Some provisions of the Treaty, especially the ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement) mechanism, protect the interests of investors in the fossil fuel sector. In the current transition to a green and sustainable economy, such mechanisms may deter investment in renewable energy, which may delay climate action needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean energy sources,” the Parliament’s press service said.
Moldova joined the ECT in 1996. At that time, participation in the Treaty “was relevant for the integration of the national energy market into the regional and international context,” the authors specify.
The European Union decided to withdraw from the ECT in 2025. The Republic of Moldova, like the EU, considers that withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty is “inevitable in order to bring energy policy in line with commitments to reduce carbon emissions and transition to clean energy”.
The draft denunciation is to be adopted by the plenary session of the Parliament.
