ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that during the 2000s the EU did indeedimplement a range of initiatives designed to accord energy security greater priority in its relations with the Middle East. Algerian gas monopoly Sonatrach itself invested in European energy infrastructure, including LNG terminals in the UK and Spain. The standard, long-held view was that energy imperatives required Western governments to maintain alliances in the Middle East and that political change would be prejudicial to energy interests. Algeria’s long civil war in the 1990s the main militant groups refrained from attacking oil and gas installations. After revoking elections and taking power in 1992, the Algerian military presided over a regime that prided itself on being a reliable supplier of energy to European markets. Human Rights, an increased deliberative role for the Shura Council and several rounds of a reform-oriented National Dialogue. Europe’s engagement on energy issues was strongest in North Africa.
