EU energy security to take center-stage in 2006 [fr] [de]

Background

Russia's Gazprom restored gas deliveries to Europe on Tuesday 3 January 2006 after its blockade on the Ukraine threatened to have serious implications for some of the EU's new member states and Austria and Germany. The dispute between Russia and its former Soviet republic was caused by the Russian government's insistence that Ukraine should pay the real market price for its gas imports, but goes clearly beyond the commercial dimension, as President Putin seems willing to use the energy weapon to restore Russia's geopolitical power in the world.

The "new cold war" (The Times) could well be the first of a series of events this year that will demonstrate the return of global energy policy as the main driver of external policies. With some energy experts also predicting the "end of cheap oil" as oil production might be close to its "peak" and increasing world demand is seen to outstrip global supply, the issue of energy security, which was high on the political agenda in the 70s and 80s, will return to the fore of EU policy-making in 2006.

Europe's dependency on gas from Russia and oil from the unstable Middle East might lead to serious economic risks but could also stir up animosities between EU member states themselves. Countries such as Poland are very worried that Russia has too much leverage over the EU because of this gas dependency (25% of European gas imports come from Russia and nearly all of them from one company, Gazprom, on which the Russian government has a strong strategic grip).

The fear of further use of the geopolitical energy weapon will also intensify the renewed European interest in a revival of nuclear power, as well as strengthen the EU's resolve to focus on reducing energy demand through stronger policies for energy efficiency.

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