ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines how the EU invested new hope in the energy potential of Central Asia and the Caucasus, introducing several energy-related programmes and initiatives after 2002. The EU did appoint special envoys, one to Central Asia, one to the Southern Caucasus, in 2005 and 2003 respectively. The attempt to incorporate the southern Caucasus and Central Asia within EU internal market and governance structures looked highly ambitious. Energy-security debates helped propel the southern Caucasus and Central Asia to greater international prominence. The region included significant energy producers in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The transport of supplies into Europe certainly presented a set of searching geopolitical challenges. The region’s dependence on pipeline networks routed through Russia enabled the latter to exert political influence and charge mark-ups that significantly increased the cost of Central Asian supplies to European consumers. European foreign policy struggled to gain a meaningful foothold in Central Asia after the break-up of the Soviet Union.
