From 17 to 19 June 2026, Vivienne Sailer, University Assistant at the Institute of International Law and International Relations at the University of Graz, participated in the Dreiländertagung der Deutschen Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaften (DVPW) in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Within the framework of an international panel on legislation in a comparative perspective across Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH region), she delivered a paper entitled “Borderless Energy: German-Austrian Cooperation in the Energy Sector in International and Domestic Law” (in German). Using the natural gas storage facilities Haidach and 7fields near Salzburg – now connected to both the German and Austrian gas networks – as a case study, she examined the legislative challenges arising from the interaction of European Union law, public international law, and national energy law regimes.
She argued that the scheduled expiry of the storage agreement between Germany and Austria should not be understood as a setback for the European internal energy market, while at the same time raising questions concerning energy supply security, energy solidarity pursuant to Art. 194 TFEU, and the allocation of competences and responsibilities under the SOS Regulation (EU) 2017/1938. The concurrent applicability of the Austrian Gas Industry Act (Gaswirtschaftsgesetz) and the German Energy Industry Act (Energiewirtschaftsgesetz) gives rise to unresolved issues of delimitation between the respective legal regimes.
The Three-Country Conference also provided Vivienne Sailer with the opportunity to engage with established and early-career researchers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and to participate in interdisciplinary debates on the future of European integration, (legal) governance, and democracy research.