NATO and the EU: Promoting Europe's energy security

Résumé du document

Energy security has been defined "as guaranteeing the physical availability of energy products at objective and reasonable and/or affordable prices over the short and long term". According to the European Commission energy security is mainly about economy: "Energy supply security must be geared to ensuring the proper functioning of the economy, the uninterrupted physical availability at a price which is affordable while respecting environmental concerns ". Oil and gas are the main energy resources necessary for European economy, however the differences between these two resources have led some experts to divide the definition of energy security.

Gas security "could be defined as the guarantee that the gas volumes demanded by customers will be available at a reasonable price" when oil security would be the "reliable and adequate supply of energy for a reasonable price" . These two definitions of energy security illustrate the domination of oil and gas in the current debate on energy security as well as the complexity of the notion.

Currently the import rates in oil and gas for Europe are eighty and sixty percent respectively and if some European countries own some energy resources (Barents) most of the hydrocarbon resources remain located in unstable and non democratic countries though Russia and Iran possess sixty percent of world gas resources. In addition to these general facts the oil and gas crisis between Russia and Ukraine/Belarus reminded Europe of how dependent it is for its energy supply .

To deal with this competitive environment Europe is provided with two frameworks which might impact Europe's energy security: NATO and the EU. After having reported the complexity of the notion as well as the one of the context of energy security in Europe, one can wonder to what extent have NATO and the EU managed to provide energy security to Europe according to their possibilities.

Extraits

[...] Umbach, Frank, “Global Energy Security and the Implications for the Energy Policy, Vol no March 2010. S. S. Haghighi,, Energy security, the external legal relations of the European Union with major oil and gas supplying countries, Oxford and Portland, Hart publishing p The specificity of oil is related to the fact that it cannot be replaced by another energy source in most of its use (as a fuel for cars for example), ibid., p J-M. Chevalier, dir., Les nouveaux défis de l'énergie, climat, économie, géopolitique, Paris, Economica p “Energy security: NATO's potential Automn 2006, retrieved 8 March 2001, http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2006/issue3/english/special1.html. [...]

[...] Consequently a strong cooperation between the EU and NATO on Europe's energy security will enable a comprehensive approach. However this cooperation will currently gather two rather powerless actors when it comes to energy security. NATO and the EU are either perceived as being too military, not neutral enough or even to weak and these perceptions have prevented them until now to provide sufficient energy security to Europe. Bibliography Bahgat, Gawdat, “Europe's energy security: challenges and opportunities”, International Affairs, 82: pp. [...]

[...] This statement seems indeed highly accurate as most of NATO members are now sensitive to the topic[12] and energy security is becoming part of security global issues through its link with terrorism, war, piracy, etc. Furthermore NATO involves some relevant existing frameworks to debate on energy security such as the Mediterranean Dialogue or the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative which members are “among the world's leading suppliers of oil and natural in addition to these platforms made for NATO members, there is also a formal NATO-Russia Council discussing common NATO and Russian interests notably regarding energy[14]. The inclusion of energy security in NATO agenda results from summits and debates hold in and 2009[15]. [...]

[...] The EU has been active in the field of energy security for a longer time than NATO furthermore it benefits from its ability to have a comprehensive approach towards energy security when NATO could only act as an additional player which however could be a useful one due to its strategic members and to its capacity to conduct military responses to some hard security threats. Therefore it seems that the EU and NATO could implement a fruitful cooperation in order to provide energy security to Europe and that they managed to do to a certain extent. [...]

[...] In addition to these general facts the oil and gas crisis between Russia and Ukraine/Belarus reminded Europe of how dependent it is for its energy supply[5]. To deal with this competitive environment Europe is provided with two frameworks which might impact Europe's energy security: NATO and the EU. After having reported the complexity of the notion as well as the one of the context of energy security in Europe, one can wonder to what extent have NATO and the EU managed to provide energy security to Europe according to their possibilities The ideal partnership: hard security and comprehensive approach The EU comprehensive approach. [...]