35701. Prioritization in EU Energy Policy: Energy Security First, then Energy Union
- Author:
- Alan Riley
- Publication Date:
- 06-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- The European Commission's "Energy Union" Communication, published on February 25, 2015, purports to provide the European Union (EU) with a comprehensive energy strategy. The Communication aims to simultaneously push forward the climate change agenda by deploying more renewables, while improving the level of energy efficiency, launching a major infrastructure program, and completing the energy single market. All of these objectives are necessary to establish a functioning, dynamic, liquid, and modern European energy market. The danger, however, is that the European Union's key energy security risk—the supply threat from the Russian Federation and in particular the risk related to the dominant natural gas supplier, the Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom—is not prioritized amid the Communication's broader objectives. Currently, the significant supply risk falls upon a group of states in Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, and Finland.