ABSTRACT
The European energy policy is driven by different developments, many of which are global and therefore outside the control of the EU’s policy-makers. The first of these trends is the finite nature or scarcity of fossil fuel. The main problem Europe faces is that of import dependency, due to a lack of domestic resources and growing competition from other Organization for European Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries as well as the emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. Scarcity also results from a lack of investment in the development of new deposits, insufficient diversification, hesitant progress on energy productivity, and disinterest in research on alternative sources of energy at the time of cheap fossil fuels. Insufficient or inefficient investment is partly due to the (re)nationalization of energy resources and state-owned companies that are also guided by non-economic interests (Myers et al. cited in Goldthau and Witte 2010: 123–124). The combination of reduced energy availability, perceived energy insecurity, and growing demand will constrain economic development in the near future because of reduced or prohibitively expensive energy supplies. In the future, there will be greater tensions around gaining access to the remaining fossil fuels. Further consequences of scarcity are higher prices on tighter markets and, in the long run, an increase in the demand for renewable energy sources (RES) and an effort towards higher energy efficiency.
