Energy Community As a Promoter of the European Union’s ‘Energy Acquis’ to Its Neighbourhood

The Treaty of Lisbon paved the way for legal formalization of the new European Union policies and significantly enhanced the external dimension of the EU Internal Market. The newly emerged EU energy policy is a good example of it. External objectives of the EU energy policy are being fulfilled through the Energy Community which embraces not only the EU Member States and candidate countries but also the third countries without any prospect of membership in the EU. The Energy Community is designed as a perfect example of the 'integration without membership' model which gives a stake in the EU Internal Market for third countries and promotes the EU's sectoral acquis beyond the EU borders. The article focuses on challenges of the process of Europeanization on the EU's eastern neighbouring countries through the application of the EU 'energy acquis'.