04 December 2009

GPPi holds 6th Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogues session

The Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin held the 6th "Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogues" session entitled "Strengthening Europe's Role in Global Energy Governance" from 2 - 3 December 2009 at the guesthouse "Schoene Aussicht" in Hamburg. The conference was organized with support from E.ON Ruhrgas AG, the Dräger Foundation and the European Commission.

In recent years, calls for a “single European voice” in global energy relations have garnered increasing attention among policymakers in Brussels as well as EU member states. Supporters of a European “Foreign Energy Policy” claim that such a “single voice” is crucial for the EU to effectively deal with the manifold energy challenges it is confronted with in the 21st century, not the least in dealing with its main energy suppliers such as Russia. Critics of such a “single voice”, however, allege that member states will never cede sovereignty to a supranational body in such a crucial policy domain, and also frequently assert that the European Commission does not have the necessary expertise and experience to be a competent leader on external energy policy.

Thus far, however, the substantive debate on Europe’s “single voice” in global energy has remained rather superficial. Significantly, it remains preoccupied with buzzwords such as “import dependence,” implicitly assuming the latter inevitably and always means vulnerability; it also tends to ignore the key role markets play in today’s energy business, and especially the extent to which the “rules of the game” – the institutional infrastructure underlying increasingly global energy markets – determine outcomes in these markets; and it constantly alludes to the goal of combating climate change without specifying what mechanisms would actually allow linking the issues of security of supply and emissions reductions. Thus, proponents of a Europeanized external energy policy often base their assumptions on a fairly narrow interpretation of how global energy relations are evolving, and what the key challenges are that the Union and its members are confronted with in the years ahead.

This Transatlantic Energy Security Dialogue brought together professionals from all relevant sectors (governments, NGOs, business, the media, think tank and universities) and provided an important and timely opportunity to broaden the debate on Europe’s role in global energy governance. The dialogue sessions are also designed to complement our research program on global energy governance and serve as an important forum for both presenting our ideas and receiving feedback.

The conference was structured around three main substantive parts: 1) An analysis of Europe’s role in global energy relations; 2) a review of the challenges the EU and its member states are confronted with in the energy domain; and 3) an assessment of Europe’s climate change policies, with a particular focus on the EU-China relationship.

Speakers included, among others: Marjeta Jager, Director, General Policy and International Relations, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport, European Commission; Mihály Bayer, Ambassador-at-Large of the Hungarian Government for the NABUCCO project; John Mitchell, Associate Research fellow at Chatham House and Research Adviser at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies; Joseph A. Stanislaw, Founder, JAStanislaw Group, LLC and Independent Senior Advisor, Deloitte LLP Energy Resources practice; Coby van der Linde, Director, Clingendael International Energy Programme (CIEP); ZHANG Haibin, Associate Professor, Peking University and Expert for the Ministry of Commerce; and Jochen Weise, Member of the Executive Board, Gas Supply & Trading, E.ON Ruhrgas AG.

To download the conference booklet, including a list of participants, please click here.

For more information, please contact Wade Hoxtell.

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