MPs of the opposition Green-Left Bloc said on Monday that they would submit to Parliament a proposal for the government to leave the Energy Charter Treaty, calling it "harmful to climate policy and the transition to renewable energy sources."

“We want Croatia to leave the harmful Energy Charter Treaty and thus join a number of EU countries that have over the past weeks called for the withdrawal from this harmful charter, about which we have not heard almost anything in Croatia,” MPs Jelena Milos and Sandra Bencic told reporters.

Milos said that the document in question was a “very harmful agreement for any country wishing to pursue an autonomous energy policy, as well as climate policy.”

“It has been used in the past few years by companies that sell and produce fossil fuels to sue countries, seeking damages, to protect their fossil fuel investments, because those countries have been implementing their climate policies and transitioning to renewable energy sources. And those companies believe this puts their investments in jeopardy. In recent years there have been more and more lawsuits worth millions,” said Milos, citing the examples of Slovenia and the Netherlands.

Bencic said that so far Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Slovenia, and Luxembourg have all announced their withdrawal from the Charter.

State agency Hina, which reported on Bencic’s news conference, was unable to confirm this independently.

By leaving the Charter, Croatia “will thus join a number of EU countries that have already left the Charter,” and also express support a proposed EU agreement which would bar investor protection clauses, Milos and Bencic said.

They also called on the government to define with the Foreign Ministry a global international initiative in the UN, to be led by Croatia, whereby climate goals and the Paris Agreement could override provisions of any international trade agreements which include investor protection clauses.

“As long as there is no clear supremacy in the UN of the Paris Agreement over investor protection clauses, member countries will not dare implement climate goals for fear of being sued,” Bencic warned.