Europe’s Southern Gas Corridor: Central Asia and the EU’s Drive Towards Energy Diversification

De Jong, Sijbren (2012). Europe’s Southern Gas Corridor: Central Asia and the EU’s Drive Towards Energy Diversification. EU-GRASP. United Nations University.

Document type:
Report

Metadata
Documents
Versions
Statistics
  • Attached Files (Some files may be inaccessible until you login with your UNU Collections credentials)
    Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads
    Europes_Southern_Gas_Corridor.pdf Europes_Southern_Gas_Corridor.pdf application/pdf 318.28KB
  • Author De Jong, Sijbren
    Title Europe’s Southern Gas Corridor: Central Asia and the EU’s Drive Towards Energy Diversification
    Series Title EU-GRASP
    Volume/Issue No. 8
    Publication Date 2012-03-01
    Place of Publication Bruges
    Publisher United Nations University
    Pages 11
    Language eng
    Abstract On 7 September 2011, the European Commission issued its Communication on security of supply and international cooperation. Included were a set of proposals with the aim of improving Brussels’ oversight on international energy deals between EU Member States  and energy-rich third countries. The rationale for the new proposals lies in the difficulties the EU has in diversifying its gas suppliers and transit routes. Europe’s increasing anxiety over its dependence on Russian natural gas imports led to  the idea for the creation of a ‘Southern  gas  Corridor’  to  tap  into  Central  Asia’s  vast  reserves back in late 2008. Now, 3 years later there are no clear indications however that Central Asian gas will flow to Europe anytime soon, resulting in growing criticism over the way in which the EU has tried to secure alternative supplies. Some claim the myriad of individual Member State actions on external energy policy blurs the view of third countries on what the Union really wants and hampers its diversification efforts.1 Renowned human Rights  NGOs  also  criticised  the  Union’s  ‘courting’  of  Central  Asian  leaders and for not standing up against their notorious regimes. Democratisation and human  rights promotion were seen to be at odds with the Union’s energy policy in the  region.2 This Policy Brief argues that the solution to some of these issues potentially lie in the making of strategic choices in ongoing supply contract negotiations, and a change in the way in which human rights promotion is seen to be related to the Union’s diversification  efforts given the fierce competition over energy resources in the region.
    Copyright Holder United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies
    Copyright Year 2012
    Copyright type All rights reserved
  • Versions
    Version Filter Type
  • Citation counts
    Google Scholar Search Google Scholar
    Access Statistics: 609 Abstract Views, 180 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics
    Created: Mon, 22 Jun 2015, 23:01:04 JST by Ayumi Akiyama on behalf of UNU CRIS