You're listening to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on intergovernmental agreements in the field of energy.

To ensure the smooth functioning of the EU's internal energy market, individual EU countries negotiating energy agreements with third countries must ensure these deals comply with the

EU law but in February 2016 the European Commission proposed an update to the current rules.

If the proposed changes become law, member states will have to notify the European Commission

about these energy deals before concluding them. Plug yourself into today's podcast to find out more.

As the EU's energy dependence increases,

more and more member states are forced to seek new oil and gas supplies outside of the EU.

Negotiations with energy suppliers frequently require political and legal support,

for example, to provide certainty to investors on the construction of energy infrastructure.

This political support is given in the form of intergovernmental agreements, which are often the basis for more detailed commercial contracts.

But conflicts with EU law can lead to legal uncertainty, discourage investments and disrupt the functioning of the EU's

internal energy market.

Take South Stream, for example.

The pipeline project was supposed to transport Russian natural gas through the Black Sea

to Bulgaria and from Bulgaria via Serbia to other EU countries, but it was abandoned due to its

non-compliance with EU law and the sanctions imposed in Russia after the Crimean crisis.

So what's the situation now?

Well, at present, member states are required to submit intergovernmental energy agreements

with non-EU countries to the Commission after Signature,

which is rather ineffective because once a deal has been signed,

reopening it for further negotiation is extremely difficult.

Proof of this is that although a third of the intergovernmental agreements and energy infrastructure

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