International Quarterly of Foreign Relations

International Quarterly of Foreign Relations

Hybrid strategy; EU gas agenda for Russia

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Mohammad Reza Majidi 1
Seyed Mahmood Hosseini 2
1 Associate Professor, Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, Tehran. Iran.
2 Ph.D. Student of Area Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
Examining the global gas energy market, it can be seen that the European Union is still one of the largest consumers in the world, but the operational and tactical levels of the domestic market of this union have changed. The strategy of European institutions from the 1950s onwards was based on the approach of markets and institutions, which had the liberalization of the energy market and a greater focus on companies and private actors. But since 2000, we have seen the EU move towards a regional and empire strategy that seeks to elevate its global position vis-.-Vis large producers such as Russia through biased policies. The main question is what will be the EU strategy towards the domination of Russian gas? The hypothesis that will be considered is that the EU, given the shortcomings of the strategy of markets and institutions, tends to a strategic approach to regions and empires, and at the same time develops a combined strategy to balance Russia's energy power in It uses the global energy market. This article seeks to further examine the operational and tactical levels of EU energy vis-.-Vis Russia in a descriptive and analytical manner, enumerating the characteristics of the two strategies.
Keywords
Hybrid strategy
markets and institutions
regions and empires
EU
Russia

Subjects

Abbas, M., & Locatelli, C. (2020). National institutional systems’ hybridisation through interdependence. The case of EU-Russia gas relations. Post-Communist Economies, 32(4), 429-446.‏
Afanaslev, V (2021) Nord Stream 2 starts offshore pipelay in Denmark despite US sanctions available at:https://www.upstreamonline.com/politics/ nord-stream-2-starts-offshore-pipelay-in-denmark-despite-us-sanctions/ 2-1-950550.
Amirova-Mammadova, S. (2018). Pipeline Politics and Natural Gas Supply from Azerbaijan to Europe.‏
Andersen, S. S., & Sitter, N. (2009). The European Union gas market: Differentiated integration and fuzzy liberalization. Political economy of energy in Europe, 63-84.‏
Andersen, S. S., & Sitter, N. (2009). The European Union Gas Market: Differentiated Integration and Fuzzy Liberalization. In G. Fermann (Ed.), Political Economy of Energy in Europe. Berlin, Germany: BWW.
Andersen, S. S., Goldthau, A., & Sitter, N. (2017). Conclusion: Liberal Mercantilism?. In Energy Union (pp. 237-241). Palgrave Macmillan, London.‏‏
 Andersen, S. S., Goldthau, A., & Sitter, N. (2017). From low to high politics? The EU’s regulatory and economic power. In Energy Union (pp. 13-26). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Azimov, A. (2021). EUROPEAN ENERGY POLICY AND THE EUAZERBAIJAN ENERGY COOPERATION. Journal of Comparative Politics, 14(1), 71-90.‏
Bradford, A. (2012). The Brussels Effect. Northwestern University Law Review, 107(1), 1–68.
Buzan, B., & Waever, O. (2003). Security complexes: a theory of regional security. Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security, 40-89.‏
Chervonets, A (2019), The EU Court Restricted Gazprom Right to use the OPAL Pipeline, available at:https://www.stalkerzone.org/the-eu-court-restricted-gazproms-right-to-use-the-opal-pipeline-conclusions/.
Chester, L. (2010). Conceptualising energy security and making explicit its polysemic nature. Energy policy, 38(2), 887-895.‏
Cottier, T., Matteotti-Berkutova, S., & Nartova, O. (2010). Third country relations in EU unbundling of natural gas markets: the “Gazprom clause” of directive 2009/73 EC and WTO law. Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research, Working Paper, (2010/06), 16.‏
DaDalt, A., & Park, S. H. (2020). Asymmetric interdependence and the politics of energy in Europe: Hirschman’s ‘influence effect’redux. Journal of International Relations and Development, 1-27.‏
De Maio, G. (2016). A tale of two countries: Italy, Germany, and Russian Gas. US-Europe Working Paper.‏
Ediger, V. Ş., Bowlus, J. V., & Aydın, M. (2020). Geopolitics and gas-transit security through pipelines. In Regulations in the Energy Industry (pp. 85-106). Springer, Cham.‏
Eurostat. (2019). EU imports of energy products-recent developments. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics.
Eurostat. (2020). EU imports of energy products-recent developments. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics.
Goldthau, A. (2008). Rhetoric versus reality: Russian threats to European energy supply. Energy Policy, 36(2), 686-692.‏
Goldthau, A. (2016). Assessing Nord Stream 2: regulation, geopolitics & energy security in the EU, Central Eastern Europe & the UK. European Center for Energy and Resource Security. Strategy Paper, 10, 1-40.
Goldthau, A., & Sitter, N. (2014). A liberal actor in a realist world? The Commission and the external dimension of the single market for energy. Journal of European Public Policy, 21(10), 1452-1472.‏
Goldthau, A., & Sitter, N. (2015). Soft power with a hard edge: EU policy tools and energy security. Review of International Political Economy, 22(5), 941-965.‏‏
Goldthau, A., & Sitter, N. (2019). Regulatory or market power Europe? EU leadership models for international energy governance. In New political economy of energy in Europe (pp. 27-47). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.‏
Goldthau, A., & Witte, J. M. (2010). The role of rules and institutions in global energy: An introduction. Global energy governance: The new rules of the game, 1-25.‏
Hamon, D. W., & Dupuy, A. C. (2008). Security of Energy: The Conflict after Next? Strategic Insights, Volume 7, Issue 1.‏
Hanson, B. T. (1998). What happened to fortress Europe?: External trade policy liberalization in the European Union. International Organization, 52(1), 55-85.‏
Holz, F., Engerer, H., Kemfert, C., Richter, P. M., & von Hirschhausen, C. (2014). European natural gas infrastructure: The role of Gazprom in European natural gas supplies. Study Commissioned by The Greens/European Free Alliance in the European Parliament (No. 81). DIW Berlin: Politikberatung kompakt.‏
Hyde-Price, A. (2006). ‘Normative’power Europe: a realist critique. Journal of European public policy, 13(2), 217-234.‏
Jacobsen, R. (2021). US Sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Institute for Politics and Society.‏
Khalova, Gulnar at el (2020), Russian South Gas Corridor prospect, International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Vol.10, No.4, 494-499.
Korkmaz, D. (2020). Turkey and the EU in an energy security society: the case of natural gas. Springer Nature.‏
Mañé-Estrada, A. (2006). European energy security: Towards the creation of the geo-energy space. Energy Policy, 34(18), 3773-3786.‏
Martyniszyn, M. On Extraterritoriality and the Gazprom Case’(2015). European Competition Law Review, 36, 291-291.‏
Mikulska, A. (2020). Gazprom and Russian natural gas policy in the first two decades of the 21st century. Orbis, 64(3), 403-420.‏
Newman, Nicholas (2018) ‘Big Politics at Work Behind Nordstream 2’, Pipeline and Gas Journal 245(2): 39‒41.
Noël, P. (2008). BEYOND DEPENDENCE: HOW TO DEAL WITH RUSSIAN GAS.‏
Nord Stream 2 (2017) ‘Gas Market Outlook: A New Pipeline for Europe’s Energy Future’, available at https://www.nord-stream2.com.
Nord Stream AG, http://www.nord-stream2.com/download/image/20.
Nordenman, M (2018), Doubts about America’s commitment to Article 5 are removed, available at: https://www.atlantik-bruecke.org/en/interview-nordenman-2/.
Nye Jr, J. S. (2004). Soft power: The means to success in world politics. Public affairs.‏
Obrenovic, S. (2021). Perspectives on LNG competitiveness: An overview of the EU market. Oditor, 131.
Orlov, A. (2015). An assessment of optimal gas pricing in Russia: A CGE approach. Energy Economics, 49, 492-506.‏
Pogoretskyy, V., & Talus, K. (2020). The WTO Panel Report in EU–Energy Package and Its Implications for the EU's Gas Market and Energy Security. World Trade Review, 19(4), 531-549.‏
Prange-Gstöhl, H. (2009). Enlarging the EU's internal energy market: Why would third countries accept EU rule export?. Energy Policy, 37(12), 5296-5303.‏
Selivanova, Y. (2012). The Energy Charter and the international energy governance. In European Yearbook of International Economic Law 2012 (pp. 307-342). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.‏
Stern, J., & Rogers, H. (2014). The Dynamics of a Liberalised European Gas Market–Key determinants of hub prices, and roles and risks of major players.‏
Stratakis, A., & Pelagidis, T. (2020). The importance of Southeast Mediterranean natural gas reserves to EU’s energy security; a geopolitical and economic approach. Regional Science Inquiry, 12(2), 11-29.‏
Williams, P. D. (Ed.). (2012). Security studies: An introduction. Routledge.‏
Yakunina, A. (2017). Liberalization of Russian gas exports: benefits and challenges. In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 39, p. 01033). EDP Sciences.‏
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/energy-strategy/energy-union_en.
https://www.energy-community.org/aboutus/whoweare.html.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/russian-nord-stream-2-pipe-laying-ship-begins-work-off-denmark/.