ABSTRACT

Russia has been the subject of the most high-profile debates over European energy policy. Indeed, it appears often to have completely dominated such deliberations. Russia’s increasing assertiveness and the growing tensions within Europe over how to respond have attracted much analytical attention. Russia has been the subject of the most high-profile debates over European energy policy. Indeed, it appears often to have completely dominated such deliberations. The overarching European aim was to entice Russia into a common energy space based on market-based rules and clear governance structures. The geopolitical dimension was increasingly the stronger element of EU policy. By now the EU had more high-level political dialogue with Russia than with any other third country except the United States, and more than existed with any of the EU’s partner states in the Neighbourhood Policy. The May 2007 EU-Russia summit in Samara was frosty and soured by a range of public disagreements, on energy, human rights, Kosovo and marketaccess issues.