Evolving Norms, Values and Principles in the EU-Russia Energy Security Discourses

There has been a fundamental shift in the overall debate on Russian and European relations after 2014 in comparison to the 1990s. A Cold War language about spheres of influence has re-emerged on each side. Therefore, it is important to analyze how and why the search of “common values” regressed alongside the imposed reciprocal sanctions. Focusing on energy security discourses, the paper traces evolving norms, values and principles in EU-Russian relations and discusses the prospects for cooperation and conflict. Following securitization theory, security is seen as social construction of threats by means of a speech act. It is argued that EU-Russia energy security discourses are characterized by (1) a clash of norms and values in a traditional geopolitical setting, but (2) by similar norms and values in a global governance setting. In the latter setting conflicts are restricted to competing commercial interests. Primary and secondary Russian sources will be disclosed and compared with European ones in order to bring new insights in analyzing energy related conflicts. By contrasting two different norm sets used by the same actors, the paper explores the options to enrich the energy security discourses on both sides.