... energy relations between Russia and the EU. There are arguably two main factors relating to our analysis that separate the CEE countries from the older Western European states: the first factor is the difference in development of the energy sectors and gas pipeline grid interconnectedness, and second, the perception of Russia as an energy supplier. The latter factor is the one that pertains most to our analysis and has emerged as the most troubling issue in maintaining the interdependency in gas trade....
... Germany relations with the USSR. Despite the uneasy political circumstances during the Cold War and political sensitivity concerning the issue of cooperation between the two German states, the USSR and West Germany managed to establish the base of the gas interdependence model, which was to become a backbone of the contemporary EU energy security. In a time of severe political crisis the two adversaries managed to build a long-lasting cooperation based on a sensible economic model that benefited both sides....
... Germany for the first quarter of 2016, when compared to 2015 Q1 delivered quantities. The implications of this have echoed far across the Atlantic Ocean and have once again affirmed the fears of Washington – intensification of the German-Russian gas interdependence is a fact, which few Western leaders are willing to admit.
Cooperation Amid Sanctions
Germany is highly dependent on coal as a course of cheap energy, however, coal scores very high on the greenhouse gas index and is thus not a preferable ...
... to be for Russia, being the biggest supplier of natural gas to the old continent. Falling demand, falling prices and eventually falling revenues for Russia’s state budget – Russophobes were quick to celebrate the demise of Europe’s gas dependency on Russia and the tectonic power shifts in the energy interdependence model between Russia and the EU, which has existed for decades. However, they were all wrong.
The recent data published by Eurogas confirmed a 4% increase in the primary demand for gas by EU member states. In reality, Western and CEE countries ...