The European Gas Puzzle: Over-Securitization, Dilemmas and Multi-level Gas Politics on the European Continent a Year after ‘Euromaidan’

Abstract:

At the end of 2014 the European energy landscape looks much different from that a year ago: Russian Crimea annexation, military conflict and continuing destabilization in Eastern Ukraine have brought a sharp deterioration in overall political relations with Russia. The fall-out on EU energy policy is severe: geopolitics and (over)-securitization have come to prevail over economic interests or climate concerns. As the image of natural gas is flawed, this has implications for natural gas policies and relations with other major suppliers, Norway among them. The European gas puzzle con- sists of many pieces, and the picture is sketchy as multilevel gas politics continue to unfold. A blueprint of how the EU wants to see the pieces fit together is needed.