In a notable U-turn, the European Commission has proposed a collective and coordinated exit of all 27 member states from the controversial Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), an obscure international agreement that protects energy investors from unexpected circumstances that might hurt their profit expectations.With 53 signatories, it is considered the most litigated investment deal in the world.The policy change comes after the European Commission's proposed reform to modernise the treaty collapsed in late November due to the opposition of Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands, who had previously announced plans to unilaterally withdraw.The blocking minority left the reform process in a no man's land, with more countries, such as Poland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Austria, voicing similar plans to pull out.The European Parliament passed last year a resolution urging the European Commission to lay the groundwork for a way out.In the end, the executive, who had for months defended member states were better inside a revised ECT rather than out, appears to have given in to the growing opposition."Despite the Commission's successful efforts to negotiate a modernised Energy Charter Treaty in line with the negotiating mandate given to us by the member states, there is no qualified majority in the Council to adopt the modernised Treaty," a European Commission spokesperson told Euronews."An unmodernised ECT is not in line with the EU’s policy on investment protection or the European Green Deal.
Given that it is not feasible to secure a majority in Council to adopt the modernised ECT, we consider that the EU, Euratom and member states should carry out a coordinated withdrawal from the ECT."The executive presented governments with a