Energy Security

Experts & activists from around Europe discuss the security issues in their national context.

Are some of the measures to promote energy security doing more harm than good, by creating a distraction from the real steps needed in light of climate change and increasing instability?

Editorial: In a Europe with a changing political landscape, the future of the Union– and incidentally that of the Greens in 2019 – will be largely played out over the question of security.

The much anticipated Paris Climate Summit is only weeks away. Although there are many obstacles to securing a binding agreement in Paris, Green MEP Claude Turmes feels there are reasons for optimism, such as the changes taking place at the local and regional levels towards an energy transition. Now Europe has to be brave and show real leadership on technology and renewables.

The idea that the war in Syria can be partially explained by climate change is one that is often overlooked. The connection between conflict and climate change – whether it’s down to drought, food scarcity, or environmental degradation to homes – is stronger than it appears, and is one that needs to be urgently addressed before it is too late.

On Sunday, June 16th, 2013, between the hours of 2:00 and 3:00 p.m., the price of electricity in Italy (the PUN or Single National Price) hit zero for the first time in history. In other words, electricity demand was fully covered by renewables. For the Italian energy sector and consumers this was an historic moment and an historic date.

It is deeply concerning that the Croatian government wants to return to the fossil era. And not only because oil drilling in the Adriatic threatens tourism, one of the most lucrative branches of the Croatian economy, which regularly contributes around 15% or more to the annual GDP.

The aftermath of the Ukrainian crisis, the Russian military intervention and the undeclared war in eastern Ukraine brought about a crucial change in the EU’s foreign affairs. The new understanding of a conflict-oriented and imperial rationality based attitude of the Russian leadership caused a substantial shift in the EU’s Russia-politics – and raises security questions not only at European level but also at the global scale.

Viktor Orbán’s evolving relations with the oligarchs both in Hungary and the wider region are having serious effects on Hungary’s energy strategy. Now, Putin is in town for meetings that will no doubt result in a new contract for the supply of gas, a development which will be to the benefit of a minority and to the detriment of most of the population, and which could also lead to tensions arising with the EU.

We should not forget what exactly provoked the mass protests that eventually led to the fall of the old regime in Kiev: it was the then President Yanukovych’s sudden decision not to sign the Association Agreement with the EU. Ten years after the ‘Orange revolution’, the dramatic change of events in February 2014 have given Ukraine and Europe a second chance.