The EU energy security relations with Russia until the Ukraine war

Abstract

The article explores the EU's energy security discourse regarding Russia during the period of 2010–2021. Three sub-discourses of this discourse are identified: the geopolitical, securitisation and diversification sub-discourses, as the same topics of the relationship are communicated differently in each of them. We use the method of discourse analysis (the main data analysis method is content analysis) and interpret the influence of the individual sub-discourses on the formation of the EU identity and interests. Through this, the role of discourse in relation to the formation of the EU as an energy actor is demonstrated. The discourse has an impact on the views of the reality of the EU energy cooperation with Russia, and it subordinated the energy cooperation to the political situation before the war in Ukraine.

Keywords

• European Union
• Russia
• Energy security discourse
• Securitisation
• Geopolitics