ABSTRACT
Member states' bilateral strategies to secure their energy supply also caused major intra-European Union (EU) tensions and mutual accusations of a lack of solidarity. In the energy field, in particular, it is clear that Member States have conducted bilateral arrangements for their energy supplies from Russia. A unified approach has also been hampered because the security framing of energy policy towards Russia contributed to the further legitimisation of EU member states' reluctance to cede sovereignty in the external energy policy domain. Bulgaria as an ex-communist bloc country under the Soviet Union found herself vulnerable during the January 2009 gas crisis and still finds herself pushed into a corner by Russia. The efforts by Poland have, to a certain extent, been hampered by the German engagement with Russia, which resulted in Germany being branded as a Russian 'Trojan horse' within the EU. France is the third biggest EU exporter to Russia and imports 83% of its petroleum products from Russia.
