Abstract
The EU–Russia Energy Dialogue was launched in Paris at the EU–Russia Summit on 30 October 2000. Present at the ceremony were Russia’s recently elected president Vladimir Putin, France’s president Jacques Chirac, European Union (EU) Commission President Romano Prodi and the EU’s High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana. The parties had agreed to initiate a dialogue that would ‘enable progress to be made in the definition of an EU-Russia energy partnership and arrangements for it’. World energy prices were on the rise, and the EU needed to secure a steady inflow from its main supplier, Russia, which was only happy to oblige its biggest export market. The proposed partnership would be established within the framework of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between Russia and the EU. Such an agreement, which according to the Commission would be legally binding by national law, would include not only provisions for collaboration in oil, gas, coal, electricity and nuclear energy, but also measures concerning energy efficiency and investment.