Energy as a tool of foreign policy of authoritarian states, in particular Russia

Please note: Each EPRS Study is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.Russia and other energy-rich authoritarian states use their energy exports for economic gains but also as a tool of foreign policy leverage. This study looked at the ways and methods these states have used to exert political pressure through their energy supplies, and what it means for the European Union.

Most energy-rich authoritarian states use their energy wealth to ensure regime survival. But, more than others, Russia used its energy wealth as well to protect and promote its interests in its ‘near abroad’ and to make its geopolitical influence felt further afield, including in Europe. It used gas supplies to punish and to reward, affecting both transit states and end-consumers.

This study explored how supply disruptions, price discounts or hikes, and alternative transit routes such as Nord Stream 2 and Turkish Stream, were used by Russia to further its foreign policy ambitions, feeding suspicions about its geopolitical motives. The lack of transparency about Russia’s energy policy decisions contributed to this.

In response, the EU was building an Energy Union based around the Third Energy Package, a more integrated European market and diversified supplies. By investing in new supplies, such as LNG, and completing a liberalised energy market, the EU would be better able to withstand such energy coercion and develop a more effective EU foreign policy.

• Primary Source

EP: EPRS: At a Glance July 2017: Gazprom's controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline http://www.europeansources.info/record/gazproms-controversial-nord-stream-2-pipeline/

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: Study, April 2018: Energy as a tool of foreign policy of authoritarian states, in particular Russia http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2018/603868/EXPO_STU(2018)603868_EN.pdf

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