Abstract

In the
energy field, the European Union faces both internal challenges and external
constraints. The EU is in a difficult position of rapidly declining production
of primary energy coupled with an increasingly high import dependency for its
needs in fossil fuels.A
key dimension of a European Energy Policy is therefore to guarantee a high
level of diversification of supplies both in term of sources and resources.
Those issues cannot be solved in next 18 months, but they can be substantially
brought forward by Poland-Denmark-Cyprus Trio Presidency of the EU.

Introduction

A
comprehensive European energy policy has to be viewed in a global context. In
the energy field, the European Union faces both internal challenges and
external constraints. Internally, the EU is committed in the short term to the
completion of single internal energy markets for gas and electricity, and in
the medium to long term to the transition towards a low-carbon economy
supported by “near-zero carbon” energy systems. In this respect, major efforts
are deployed by EU institutions and member states to achieve the 20/20/20
targets at the 2020 horizon. However, despite a spectacular increase in
regulatory activity aimed at creating a unified energy market, barely half of
the work needed to create a single energy market has been done. Deregulation
has been achieved but there is a long way to go before the various national
markets become parts of a homogeneous block.

On the
external front, the EU is facing an international energy landscape marked by an
unprecedented level of uncertainty. In this context, the EU is in a difficult
position of rapidly declining production of primary energy coupled with an
increasingly high import dependency for its needs in fossil fuels. Whereas the
international energy competition has become increasingly political, the
European Union has remained impotent. The EU has so far very limited powers in
external energy policy. Until now, the external strategic dimension of energy
policy remains mainly the prerogative of EU member states. As a consequence,
the European Union struggles to develop a common strategy regarding the choices
over different energy sources or their geographic origin, as illustrated by the
recurrent divergences between member states over the issue of diversification
of supply for gas.

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