Suchergebnisse

The paper analyses the development of the EU energy policy since the beginning of the European integration and argues that the eastern enlargement and two gas crises in 2006 and 2009 have crucially impacted its evolution. Originally, the ES/EU dealt primarily with the formation and liberalisation of internal energy market, however after 2004 the focus has shifted towards issues of energy security and external energy relations in general. The paper uses the spillover concept to analyse the development of the EU energy policy. It argues that the development of internal energy market was caused by a spillover from internal market as such, while the progress in the area of energy policy after the eastern enlargement was an outcome of efforts to achieve energy security; efforts that resulted in further spillover effects in areas such as diversification, external energy relations or efficiency. The paper thus claims that common European energy policy in its internal and external dimensions started to evolve gradually after the Eastern enlargement.

The energy security and status of the Caspian Sea is one of the key elements in the whole energy policies of the Caspian states. The different positions of the boarder states on the Caspian Sea undermine the "mega energy projects" from this area towards European markets. There are five Caspian states, and each of them has its own view of how to divide the sea into national sectors, which makes difficult the realization of energy projects, and slows down the development of the region. While researching the status of Caspian Sea we realized the true clash of geopolitical interests of the powers (either superpowers or regional powers) behind the "Caspian game". The main goal of the study is to present the key elements of national interests of the Caspian states in order to understand their influence on European energy policies.

The paper analyses the development of the Bratislava–Schwechat Pipeline, which is supposed to connect the Slovak and Austrian oil pipeline networks. The research question asks why the project is being developed without taking into account arguments concerning environmental security even though rather significant environmental opposition to the pipeline has arisen. While the proponents of the project stress mainly its importance for the fostering of Slovak energy security, its opponents claim that the pipeline will endanger the current level of environmental security, since it presents a risk to Slovak fresh water reservoirs. In line with the theoretical approach, the paper argues that the conflict between these two types of security is positively skewed towards energy security, because its proponents are able to support their argumentation with concrete evidence. Moreover, advantages from improvements in energy security are visible in the short-term. On the other hand, the possible future negative environmental impacts of the pipeline are not so easy to assess (or quantify) and are of a long-term nature. The analysis also shows that due to the lack of activity of the Slovak Ministry of the Environment, a non-governmental organization Nie ropovodu (No to the pipeline) has become the main proponent of environmental security through the preparation phase of the project. ; The paper analyses the development of the Bratislava–Schwechat Pipeline, which is supposed to connect the Slovak and Austrian oil pipeline networks. The research question asks why the project is being developed without taking into account arguments concerning environmental security even though rather significant environmental opposition to the pipeline has arisen. While the proponents of the project stress mainly its importance for the fostering of Slovak energy security, its opponents claim that the pipeline will endanger the current level of environmental security, since it presents a risk to Slovak fresh water reservoirs. In line with the ...

Energy security is one of the most topical and important issues, both at the EU and member states level. This is a fact, not only in the context of climate change policy and common energy market design, but also in the light of the dynamics of EU external energy relations, with the latter recently gaining in importance. The Czech discourse on energy security is no exception and mirrors the development in the EU-wide debate. This claim is based not only on the analysis of events and the subsequent debate on energy security in the Czech Republic regarding the period from 2006 to 2010 (e.g. the natural gas crisis, Presidency of the Council of the EU, the question of energy import dependence), i.e. the period between the last two parliamentary elections with minor overlaps, but also on the three applied criteria of national interest – relevance, consensus, and external acceptability. The discourse on external energy relations of the Czech Republic is relevant, shows signs of consensus, and, from an EU perspective, could be considered as acceptable. Therefore, the external energy relations meet the criteria of the Czech national interest.

The article analyses how the standpoints of political parties on energy related issues are formed. The effect of the process of forming these standpoints on energy policy in general in the Czech Republic, the divergence among ideologies (coming out not only from the election programs), and other factors, as well as the parties' ideological continuity in time are particularly emphasized. The analysis comes to the conclusion that energy related issues are important for each political party but not crucial. In addition, it is concluded that parties are internally consistent, their standpoints are based on ideology, and they are all rather constructive in policy formulation. An interesting conclusion is also the fact that energy policy in the Czech Republic is generally highly personalized, thus strongly influenced by particular individuals.

Energy efficiency improvements have become a major hope for decoupling the energy demand from economic growth and for achieving environmental goals. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of policies based on promoting energy efficiency may be undermined by behavioral responses. A more efficiently produced energy service becomes cheaper and economic theory then suggests that consumers should demand more of it, which will cause a loss of the potential technological saving. The phenomenon is called the rebound effect and it has become a focus of energy economists since early 80s. However, even today there is no clear consensus on its importance. Quantification of the rebound effect is mainly hampered by poor data availability and the comparison of results is not straightforward due to methodological differences. Our study concentrates right on the economic theory of the demand for energy services, definitions and their applicability to empirical estimation. It summarizes the state of knowledge and elaborates on plausible models for empirical quantification of the rebound effect which should bear consistent results. Adapted from the source document.

Obálka -- Obsah -- Seznam zkratek -- Úvod Jaderná energie: (dnes nechtěná) technologie budoucnosti? -- 1. Jaderná energie jako klíčové německé politikum -- 1.1 Jaderná politika CDU/CSU od 70. let do Fukušimy -- 1.2 Strana Zelených a jaderná energie od vzniku strany po vstup do vlády -- 1.3 První odklon od jaderné energie: realizace -- 1.4 Revize prvního odklonu od jaderné energie a odklon druhý -- 2. Širší souvislosti německého odstoupení a jeho dopady -- 2.1 Současný stav a výhledy německé energetiky -- 2.2 Právní spory energetických koncernů po změnách v jaderné energetice SRN

The article explores the energy relations between the European Union and the Russian Federation. The focus is, however, not on the technical and institutional aspects of the relationship, but rather on the discursive formations that determine the prevailing interpretation of the relationship by each party. Building on the discourse analysis of 74 textual units produced by EU leaders and institutions, the article discovers the three most salient discursive formations, which centre respectively around three concepts: a) integration, b) liberalization, and c) diversification. The text goes on to assess the main features of these formations, their possible overlaps, and their influence upon EU-Russian energy ties. Adapted from the source document.

The EU has been gradually increasing its emphasis on a common approach to energy security among its members in the last couple of years, and these member states have had to take this tendency into account when developing their own approach to energy policy. Additionally, both EU and its members have been forced to react to several challenges regarding energy security. Reactions and tendencies within energy policies can be assessed on the basis of theoretical approaches that can not only clarify reasons for implementing specific tools and procedures, but also can help to anticipate future development. This article is focused on the energy policy of the Czech Republic and the European Union from the perspectives of strategic as well as market-oriented approaches, which are the two dominant theoretical approaches in this field of study. The aim is to identify how these approaches are reflected in policy documents on both levels during the selected period of time (2004-2012) and what it means in terms of energy policy coordination within the EU. Adapted from the source document.

This study is an attempt to outline some initial insights into the practice of PA professionals in the Czech Republic. The main goal of our research study was to describe and analyze the state of the field of public affairs (PA). Our main research focus thus was to describe the current situation and build a solid background of the profession and emerging field for further research: first, we characterize professionals working in the field (their professional background, education, income and goals). Next, we attempt to define the main issues they deal with professionally (such as politics, lobbying, the energy sector, etc.). This is followed by a description of the market itself and the level to which it is institutionalized. Finally, we attempt to analyze how PA as a field is understood and perceived by domestic and foreign professionals working in the Czech Republic. In our conclusion, we also state openly a few challenges we encountered during our research and set goals for future research. Adapted from the source document.