Demand for gas is on the rise in Europe, yet its indigenous production is in decline. The need for imports from remote sources will grow. At the same time, a pan-European market for natural gas is expected to develop, leading to new movements of gas in addition to the traditional direct flows from production facilities to consumers. Continue reading »
Was the Russia vs. Ukraine match that we were forced to watch and endure in the cold in some countries in the EU in the past few weeks a commercial dispute gone political? Or is it a political dispute with a commercial lining? Continue reading »
The song that is being sung by the stakeholders in the debate about the third package needs to be tuned. The lyrics of the song should not be about the legal structure and governance of the physical networks of the industry, but about which steps should be taken to truly achieve integrated EU markets, first of all in electricity.
Energy policy is rich in emotion and diverse political and economic interests. Thus the journey towards establishing and implementing an integrated European energy policy has been and still is a cumbersome one. To make the trip for the future more exciting we have developed four storylines: l’Europe des patries, Fortress Europe, Confident Europe and Competitive Europe. The main conclusion to be drawn is that the issue for the EU is not energy resources per se, but rather access to them.
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