THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 34 many countries, however, the markets were strongly geared towards competitiveness. Accordingly, govern- ments and companies have relied on cheap Russian pipeline gas. There was a lack of strategic alignment in energy policy. And thus, in the summer and autumn of 2022, the primary goal in Brussels and the capitals of the Member States is to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas. Unlike coal and oil, there is only a limit- ed amount of timely replacement available from al- ternative providers. In the past, there was a lack of coordinated European energy policy. Consequently, at present, past negligence must be made up for under massively more difficult conditions. The intensive coor- dination of the Member States that is now necessary is not easy, because energy policy has so far largely been left up to the Member States themselves. Accordingly, they are positioned very differently. This is particularly evident with the current Achilles heel – the supply of natural gas. Natural gas is supplied to Europe mainly via pipe- lines from Russia, Norway, North Africa, and Azerbai- jan. Before the war in Ukraine, Russia was Europe’s most important energy supplier, accounting for 41 per cent of natural gas imports. Natural gas enters to Europe via several main pipelines, such as Nord Stream 1, Yamal-Europe and Brotherhood. The rest is supplied from Norway, North Africa, Azerbaijan, and as liquefied natural gas (LNG) through LNG import terminals. However, the degree of dependency on Russian gas varies greatly between Member States. Central and Eastern Europe are heavily dependent on energy supplies from Russia. Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, for example, are almost entirely dependent on Russia. Before the war, Italy and Ger- many got about half of their natural gas from Russia. The Iberian Peninsula, on the other hand, is barely connected to the rest of Europe via gas and electric- ity lines and is therefore much less vulnerable in this situation. The massive conflict between short-term needs and long-term goals In addition to coal, many European countries are turning to the use of LNG in the current emergency in order to become independent of Russian natural gas. When compressed, LNG can also be delivered by tankers of liquefied gas from more distant countries. LNG now cov- ers 9 per cent of demand. By 2030, this is expected to increase to 30 per cent. Poland, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Great Britain, and the Netherlands are already planning to commission LNG terminals that can handle ships and there are likewise plans to regasify the LNG. On 20 March, Germany decided to speed up the construction of two LNG terminals, primarily to ensure the supply of gas from Qatar. 1 This is where the investments made in the European gas transport networks over the past decade are now paying off. Newer pipelines can be operated reversibly, i.e. flow in two directions. This means that Poland, for example, can now be supplied via the LNG ports in the North Sea and reduce its dependence on the traditional east-west pipeline. In the short term, there is realistically no alternative in the EU to this expansion of LNG use and to falling back on the use of coal-fired power plants. At the same time, it is enormously important that the revival of fossil energy actually only apply to the current emergency; oth- erwise the climate policy goals will move further off into the distant future. Thus the task is to secure the supply now for the fragile present, while at the same time not prolonging the necessary bridge to the post-fossil age. European Member States must now build up logistics and infrastructure to quickly become independent of Russian gas, while ensuring that this infrastructure can continue to be used in the hydrogen age. In the future, Europe can and must make greater use of the economic and geopolitical power it possesses as 1  Available at: www.ipg-journal.de/rubriken/europaeische-integra- tion/artikel/die-chance-in-den-truemmern-5973/