European Energy Union? Caught between securitisation and ‘riskification’

Fears about the security of supplies have been central to debates about the development of an integrated EU energy policy over the past decade, leading to claims that energy has been ‘securitised’. Previous analyses have found, however, that although shared security concerns are frequently used as justification for further integration, they can also serve as a rationale for Member States to resist sharing sovereignty. Transcending this apparent paradox would require not just agreement about whether energy supplies are security concerns, but also agreement about what kind of security concern they are. In this article, we examine whether such an agreement could emerge through a comparative analysis of constructions of gas security in the UK and Poland. Utilising a framework that draws from both the philosophical and sociological wings of Securitisation Studies, we demonstrate that although gas has been elevated on the security agendas of both states, the specific logic of insecurity – securitisation or riskification – underpinning these constructions differs substantially, and is conditioned by distinct modes of governance in each Member State. This, we contend, limits the potential for further integration of EU energy policies in the context of the European Commission’s proposals for an ‘Energy Union’

Bulgaria’s decision to suspend work on the South Stream pipeline is likely to increase the EU’s leverage in negotiations with Russia over Ukraine

Bulgaria has announced that it is to suspend construction of the South Stream gas pipeline, which is aimed at transporting Russian gas exports through the Black Sea to South Eastern Europe and beyond. Tomas Maltby writes on the background to this decision at both the EU level and within Bulgaria itself. He notes that as the South Stream pipeline would rival existing routes for Russian gas exports through Ukraine, suspending the construction is likely to increase the EU’s leverage in negotiations with Russia

Challenging reductionism in analyses of EU-Russia energy relations

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The more the merrier? Assessing the impact of enlargement on European energy and climate change policies

This article examines the impact of enlargement on European Union performance in energy and climate change policies. It looks at process-driven performance, focusing on agenda-setting, negotiation dynamics and institutional change – as well as outcome-driven performance, looking at the ambitiousness of policy objectives and their implementation. The empirical analysis is based on qualitative, comparative case studies of EU climate change and energy security policies. The article shows that enlargement has had a nuanced but contrasted impact on the two areas. It also points to the recent assertiveness of Central and Eastern European Countries in both energy security and climate policy

Standing in the way by standing in the middle: the case of state-owned natural gas intermediaries in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a significant natural gas transit state in the EU (a role set to increase with the South Stream and potential Nabucco West gas pipelines) and a Member State subject to EU regulation. As a result, the regulation of natural gas in the country is of direct relevance to the development, implementation and realisation of EU energy security policy. However, the transposition of the EU’s Third Energy package seem to be dependent on the role of intermediaries in the process of transiting natural gas through and within Bulgaria. This paper uses a conceptual frame which merges literature on energy infrastructure networks, intermediaries and power to explain some key problems for natural gas supply policy in Bulgaria and the lack of transparency within the sector. The conclusion offers an explanation of how the existence of Bulgarian intermediaries influences the use of national natural gas pipelines as transmission belts for national, Russian and EU policy, as well as a series of objectives including: increasing household gasification, further liberalisation of the Bulgarian natural gas market and increasing transparency in Bulgarian energy policy

Response to the European Union Committee Energy and Environment Sub-Committee’s call for evidence on EU energy governance

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EU energy policy integration as embedded intergovernmentalism:The case of Energy Union governance

The launch of the ‘Energy Union’ in 2014, represented a major step to deepen EU cooperation in energy and climate policies. Yet, in energy, member states have remained particularly jealous of their sovereignty, limiting the pace and scope of integration. EU energy policy appears to fit the specifications of ‘new intergovernmentalism’ (NI). Member states have been keen on reinforcing cooperation but have refrained from delegating further authority to supranational institutions, preferring to maintain a high level of control within the Council and European Council. However, focusing on the Energy Union Governance Regulation adopted in 2018, we argue that the sector does not fit neatly within this NI account. Although governments remain central to the process, they operate within a hybrid institutional framework combining supranational and intergovernmental elements, in which formal and informal authority distribution is unstable and contested. We suggest this form of governance is better described as ‘embedded intergovernmentalism’

EU Enlargement: Lessons from, and Prospects for. IES WORKING PAPER 3/2013

In 2009 the European Union (EU) reached a crucial moment in its history, in which the terms Europe and crisis became conjoined: the European sovereign-debt crisis, or Euro-crisis. Yet enlargement remains on the agenda, with the EU’s next enlargement starting on 1st July 2013 with the accession of Croatia, Iceland and FYROM looking set to follow in the near future, and probably other Western Balkan states and possibly Turkey in the long term. Enlargement therefore will soon come back into focus. Focusing on climate and energy security policy, this working paper first reflects upon the impact of the 2004/2007 enlargement on the EU. A reflection on the EU’s recent past with some of the lessons that can be learnt then follows, with a consideration that predictions of decision- and policy-making gridlock were not realised, that newer member states have proved influential, and that prospective member states cannot be expected to be passive nor impotent. The latter part of this paper evaluates the potential prospects and outcomes of these lessons with regard to future enlargement from within (Scotland and Catalonia), and without (Turkey), and the political factors which may dictate whether these possible enlargements are realised

Energy securitisation: avenues for future research

In this chapter we identify some key areas for future research on “energy securitization” through both an examination of what Securitization Studies could learn from the study of energy issues and what insights could be drawn from theoretical developments within Securitization Studies for the study of energy security. After a brief overview of the strengths and weaknesses of the Copenhagen School framework, we outline several possibilities within two main strands of research—the discursive construction of energy security and the process of energy securitization, respectively. In the case of the former, we suggest that research should focus on the question of whether or not energy is a distinct “sector” of security, and whether it is constituted by “logics” of security that depart from the Copenhagen School’s conception of securitization. In the case of the latter, we suggest that greater attention should be paid to the audiences of attempts to securitize energy issues, and the ways in which such attempts are shaped by power relations, systems of energy governance, and the “materiality” of energy systems. We conclude with some reflections on the causal status of securitization theory and the implications this has for how to conduct further research on energy securitization