A Credible European Security Plan

INTRODUCTION

 1. The European Commission was instructed by the Council of Ministers in March 2014 to draw up an energy security plan in time for the next Council of Ministers meeting in June 2014.

 2. This instruction followed on from the various reactions of member states to the Russian annexation of

Ukraine and the first British “non-paper” tables at the Council meeting, which called for a 25-year plan to wean Europe off reliance on Russian gas. Since then, eastern Ukraine has been destabilized and Gazprom has repeatedly threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine, as it did in 2006 and 2009.

 3. This paper sets out five key inter-related components for a credible European energy security plan, on the assumption that the EU actively wants to take a stronger stance in relation to Russia and Gazprom. These are:

Improving the EU’s bargaining power in buying Russian gas

Diversifying away from Russian gas

Diversifying away from gas

Building resilience

Emergency planning

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