Georgia, Ukraine and energy security

After the second Russian-Ukrainian stand-off in 2009, the EU has another chance to put together a coherent energy policy. There is a risk of the main players viewing that goal with scepticism, and preferring instead to beef up bilateralism with Russia. Germany might take the latest crisis as an excuse to push on even harder with the Baltic pipeline, while Austria and Hungary may prefer Russia’s alternative non-Ukrainian pipelines to Nabucco. So now the EU faces a clear choice: either the big players act together in the face of Russian political pressure, or they take the national route.