Security of the energy supply of the EU: a breaking point in integration?

Increasing dependency of the EU on imported energy resources has been a major challenge for the EU energy security. The crisis between Russia and Ukraine in 2006 has brought the issue of security of energy supply to the agenda of the EU, which also raised questions over the reliability of Russia as the major energy supplier of the EU. Upon this background, the EU has developed various mechanisms in line with the diversification strategy of the EU energy policy. However, threats to the energy security of the Member States have led them to pursue national energy policies undermining the efforts for relieving the heavy dependency on the Russian energy resources at the EU level. Thus, in line with the theoretical framework of liberal intergovernmentalism, national preferences of the Member States rather than the supranational entrepreneurship have prevailed in the EU energy security policy. Divergence of the key interests of the leading Member States of the EU in the energy security has constituted the breaking point in further integration in the energy policy. The Caspian region energy resources are considered to be significant in the context of the diversification strategy of the EU. Energy strategies that would entail Turkey as an energy corridor between the Caspian region and the EU have significant potential to contribute to the security of energy supply of the EU.