EU Energy Security beyond Ukraine: Towards Holistic Diversification

Abstract:

The aim of the article is to explore the risks emanating from the EU’s gas security architecture, based on the twin pillars of diversification and enforced interdependence, in the context and aftermath of the crisis in Ukraine.

Interdependence with external suppliers has been hit hard by the diversification rhetoric and rationale and given a crucial blow with the fallout in Ukraine and Russia’s opening to the East. Diversification, on the other hand, has added resilience to the EU gas market, but far from ensures the EU’s gas security in the mid- to long-term.

The article thus argues that energy security is in need of a broader and more pragmatic understanding of diversification that will critically expand to renewables, energy conservation and efficiency. The pressing sustainability needs add further urgency to the switch from supply- to demand-side energy policies.