Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Energy dependence: the EU’s greatest energy security challenge?

  • Article
  • Published:
European View

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the risks and challenges that the EU is facing in the current geopolitical situation as Europe relies too heavily on oil and gas imports from Russia. This energy dependence is not the only threat to the security of the energy supply, but it is the biggest one and presents the toughest challenge of all. Even when the Ukraine issue has been resolved, the question of energy dependence will remain and solutions must be found as a matter of urgency. Combining our energy infrastructures and perhaps uniting our negotiating power vis-à-vis third countries could help us to reduce dependence, improve the security of supply and increase European competitiveness as a result of lower energy prices overall. The existing internal energy market directives must be implemented and new policies established as we move towards a true European energy union.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The European legislation addressing the issue of the creation and development of the electricity and gas market is grouped into three different packages, which were issued in 1996–8, 2003 and 2009 respectively. The First Energy Legislation Package, adopted in the late 1990s, allowed the opening of the electricity and gas market and a gradual introduction of competition. The Second Energy Legislation Package further focused on the concepts of unbundling and third party access and defined the need for independent regulatory authorities. The Third Energy Legislation package established a new unbundling regime and more clearly defined the duties of national regulatory authorities.

  2. The delivery statistics published by Gazprom (2014) include Turkey and Switzerland.

References

  • European Commission. (1995). An energy policy for the European Union. White Paper, COM (1995) 682 final, 13 December.

  • European Commission. (2007). An energy policy for Europe. Communication, COM (200.7) 1 final, 10 January.

  • European Commission. (2011). Horizon 2020The framework programme for research and innovation. Communication, COM (2011) 808 final, 30 November.

  • European Commission. (2014). European energy security strategy. Communication, COM (2014) 330 final, 28 May.

  • European Parliament. (2014). The impact of the oil price on EU energy prices. Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Policy Department A, Economic and Scientific Policy. 14 February. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/518747/IPOL-ITRE_ET(2014)518747_EN.pdf.

  • Gazprom. (2014). Export statistics. http://www.gazpromexport.ru/en/statistics/. Accessed 14 October 2014.

  • International Energy Agency. (2013). World energy outlook 2013. Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Florence School of Regulation Encylopedia. (2013). EU energy legislation packages. http://fsr-encyclopedia.eui.eu/eu-energy-legislation-packages/. Accessed 14 October 2014.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vladimir Urutchev.

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Urutchev, V. Energy dependence: the EU’s greatest energy security challenge?. European View 13, 287–294 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12290-014-0319-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12290-014-0319-1

Keywords

Navigation