The Geopolitics of EU Energy Solidarity: Improving conceptual clarity on energy sovereignty and solidarity

This article improves energy security scholarship by clarifying how energy sovereignty and solidarity are utilized in European geopolitics. By analyzing key events in the energy relationship between Russia, the EU, Poland and Germany the importance of sovereignty and solidarity emerge as powerful forces justifying the use of soft and hard power. Energy sovereignty is a new concept emerging after the 1970s Western oil crisis. Energy solidarity is enshrined in Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) as a result of the Lisbon Treaty of 2009. The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the EU's response in the energy sector highlighted justifications for actions on the grounds of sovereignty and solidarity. The Nord Stream gas pipeline analysis provides a means to assess the evolution of energy sovereignty and solidarity. Previous energy scholarship focused on the use of soft power in the EU's energy market. After the outbreak of war, the EU responded with sanctions affecting oil and gas supplies from Russia. An equal analysis of the role of hard power in the EU's energy market is now necessary. Before 2022, EU energy solidarity held little meaning as state sovereignty guided national energy policies. After 2022, energy solidarity was boosted by the pooling of national sovereignty to reinforce the EU's energy market, visible in sanctions against Russia and the joint purchase of non-Russian gas. The results indicate Member State actions support energy solidarity and a process of divided sovereignty is empowering EU institutional actions.