ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the nature of the European Union’s (EU) energy dependence on Russia. It analyzes the main challenges resulting from this dependence for the formulation of a common EU energy policy and for the relations that the EU and its individual member states have with Russia. While “energy dependence” in general suggests an asymmetric type of relationship, the term itself remains highly contested. Given the currently politicized nature of the debate on Europe’s energy relations with Russia, we need to arrive at an exact understanding of the nature of this dependence. The dependence is reciprocal, with Europe dependent on Russia and Russia dependent on Europe. However, the situation is not so simple, since it is not Europe as a whole that is dependent on Russian energy, but only several of its states. The specific nature of an individual European country’s dependency on Russia impacts the way that this dependency is socially framed and used within the EU and in domestic political debates.
