Russian gas politics: A discursive approach to German and Polish energy security narratives and their uploading to the EU

Energy security is back at the centre of the political discussions in the European Union (EU) due to the current energy crisis, with the energy relationship with Russia and the different energy policy priorities as the most important friction points. This paper aims to move beyond the strategic and political considerations of the discussion and focuses on how the disagreements among member states shape the European energy security discourse. The study conducts a discourse analysis of the German and Polish energy security narratives as they represent the antagonistic positions in the debate. The dissertation then dissects the attempts by these states to upload their preferences to the EU level, with the conflicting attitudes demonstrated on the example of Nord Stream 2. The study shows that Poland has shaped the EU's energy security narrative during the recent years more successfully than Germany, to the point that the EU's discourse now contests the energy security preferences of Germany as revealed by the case of Nord Stream 2. Keywords: Energy Security European Union Germany Poland Europeanization Nord Stream