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Eur J Law Econ (2015) 39:313329
DOI 10.1007/s10657-013-9423-y
Catherine Locatelli
Published online: 6 November 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Gas security is a key factor in the European Unions energy policy. Contractual relations based on long-term contracts during the 1970s and 1980s led to relative stability in energy trade between the EU and its gas suppliers. But since the mid-1990s, the process of opening up the EUs gas industries to competition and the desire to create a single gas market has led to an in-depth reorganization of the sector. The EU now intends to redene the way in which it manages its relations with its main suppliers, such as Russia, by attempting to impose a model based on competition, unbundling of network industries and privatization. Russia does not intend to implement this EU model in its gas sector, despite the big changes taking place in its domestic market. An approach based on the preferential use of state instruments conicts with the multilateralism and principles of competition upheld by the EU. The EUs normative power is thus in contradiction with the institutional environment of the Russian energy sector. It is therefore unlikely that energy relations between the EU and Russia will be structured solely on standards stemming from international rules and institutions.
Keywords Natural gas market Energy security European Union
JEL Classication D23 D86 Q34
The energy policy of the European Union has to a large degree been focused on structuring its internal market, with two main objectives: rst, to liberalize network industries (electricity and gas)with the purpose of opening up the markets to competitionand, second, to create a single energy market to replace the twenty-seven
C. Locatelli (&)
EDDEN, UPMF, CNRS, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 9, France e-mail: [email protected]
EU-Russia trading relations: the challenges of a new gas architecture
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national markets. While this approach might work in the electricity sector, reform is a more complex matter where gas is concerned, not least because of the extra dimension of the EUs relations with its gas suppliers. The expected rise in gas imports over the long term as well as an increasing number of uncertainties mean that the EU must pay particular attention to the...