The Energy Union Project of the European Union in the Context of EU-Russia Relations
Ensuring security of energy supplies is one of the key components of the European Union’s policies. Recent events, namely the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis accompanied by a cooldown in the EU-Russia relations, accelerated the quest for new political mechanisms and formats to ensure stable gas supplies at affordable prices. In particular, this goal could be advanced by a harmonization of external energy policies of all the EU member states. In this context the project of the European Energy Union, examined in the present paper, is of special interest. The first section of the paper provides a background of the Energy Union and outlines how, under the pressure of both proponents of the EU’s federalization and certain Eastern European countries, it transformed from an abstract idea into a feasible political project. The second section of the paper examines key elements and possible developments of the Energy Union. The author emphasizes that the EU has been implementing most of the objectives and even practical measures mentioned in the project, such as energy market liberalization, energy-efficiency programs, development of cross-border interconnectors, for a long time. Truly innovative steps have been outlined only in the sphere of external energy policy. That includes an improvement of measures to ensure transparency and conformity of bilateral intergovernmental agreements on gas purchase with the EU law, as well as the idea of establishing a ‘pool of gas consumers’. The author concludes that, regardless of alarmist rhetoric of some Eastern European politicians, the EU has no intention to use the Energy Union as a geopolitical weapon against Russia. However, the author emphasizes that the importance of the Energy Union should not be underestimated either, as a general trend of the EU energy policy, manifested in this project, is inimical to the interests of Russian energy companies and gas suppliers, in particular.