“A questão russa”

UID/CPO/04627/2013Europe has a structural weaknesses in terms of energy. It holds only one percent of the world's conventional oil and about two percent of gas reserves, and sees Russia, its main supplier, enmeshed in a complex geopolitical problem with some neighboring countries, and Europe as a whole. The response given by the EU to increase its energy security, which should have happened a long ago, relies on a bet on the creation of the Single Energy Market or the Energy Union. But these initiatives faced several obstacles, arising from differences in national energy policies, the lack of a common strategy and of a prospective vision, the umbilical link between some European monopolies and Gazprom and the consequent dominance of the European energy market by big monopolies. This paper will discuss the way EU is adapting to a new era for energy and argues the need for a reformulation of the concept of energy security in the light of the most recent global threats. It includes a brief presentation of the possible scenarios faced by EU in the near future as far as energy is concerned. Is there a “Russian issue”?publishersversionpublishe