ES šiaurinio regiono vaidmuo įgyvendinant ES energetinį saugumą XXI amžiuje ; The role of the European Union's North region for realizing EU's energy security in the 21 st century

Abstract

The main object of this study is to analyze the role of the North region of European Union, ensuring energy security in the EU and foresee the possible perspectives of the EU's energy policy in the nearest future. The North region is analyzed emphasizing two countries which are main energy suppliers for Europe – Russian Federation and Norway. For a better understanding of the object, the specific proposition has been formulated: the struggle of the national states for energy resources and individual decisions allow energy insecurity in the European Union since the EU's declared objective "to speak in one voice" is inconsistent with national interests of EU's member states. Although the European Union can be defined as the complex of energy security in which the relation of dependence is comprehended as a threat (the main source of this threat is the Russian Federation's energy monopoly), however the growing consumption and competition for energy resources encourage the countries to search for alternative energy resources and its suppliers. These actions disrupt the initiatives of the common European Union's energy policy. The political consciousness is not yet grown in the EU's countries and it determinates the weakness of the EU as a political construct in case of competition with the rising economical powers (such as India and China) for energy resources. On the other hand the consumption is growing in the Russian market as well, which implies possible insecurity of supply. In the nearest future the EU's North and Arctic regions with its huge resources of natural gas and oil can be a significant energy base for Europe. On the other hand the Arctic region becomes the struggle arena for great powers and regional powers (such as United States of America, Russian Federation and Norway). For the EU which is more economical than political construct and must combine national interest of the member states it will be quite difficult to achieve its goals of energy policy.