For the European Union (EU), the completion of the Internal Energy Market (IEM) is a matter of great importance. Introduced by the EU Commission in 2007, the Third Energy Package (TEP) is the most recent step in efforts to integrate national energy markets into an integrated pan-EU market. The TEP is also aimed to increase competition in EU energy markets, allowing new entrants into a traditionally monopolistic area of the economy and thus afford consumers more choice. An associated argument that the EU makes for these policy initiatives is that it also enhances EU energy security. The Commission argues that security is achieved via a greater number of suppliers and transmission operators within the EU, increasing competition and thereby putting pressure on prices, and (in conjunction with additional initiatives, for example the Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E)) by the enlarging market, making it more important and influential vis-à-vis key suppliers such as Russia, and also by enabling greater intra-EU flows of gas and electricity in the event of supply disruptions. There has been academic commentary on the need for and/or the accuracy of the goals of the TEP. In particular, the liberalization of energy markets through EU Directives has been the subject of intense debate not only in academic circles but in politics. There has not yet however, been substantive examination of the security-related aspects of the TEP project. As such, this paper seeks to argue that the TEP is an essential step towards achieving a more energy-secure Europe through the facilitation of liberalizing mechanisms and the integration of otherwise separate energy networks. It argues that such a process helps to align national interests and thus alleviate some of the past difficulties in establishing a common stance amongst the EU-27 on energy issues. In order to argue this position, the paper proceeds in two sections. Firstly it canvasses the main aspects of the TEP, concentrating on the Directives pertaining to natural gas and the associated programs designed to foster interconnections between energy markets such as TEN-E. From this point it analyses the particulars of the implementation process to assess the extent to which security as a cornerstone of the EU’s argument for the TEP, has been achieved.
