External Pressures from ‘Enemies’, ‘Rivals’ and ‘Allies’: EU Energy Integration in Response to Geopolitical Challenges

In recent years, the EU has experienced major energy crises as a result of the deteriorating regional and global geopolitical environment. The effect of these crises on the advancement of EU energy policy integration remains a divisive issue in the literature. This paper argues that understanding the impact of external developments on EU energy policy integration requires disentangling the multiple sources of geopolitical pressure facing the EU. Taking inspiration in the notion of “geopolitical codes”, the paper examines how the different representations of the potential allies and enemies affects the way in which the EU articulates a response to energy challenges. By focusing on three sources of external pressure (Russia, China and the US) the paper identifies several integration pathways in sub-sectors of EU energy policy: a limited but important unification move in gas supplies; between fragmentation and consolidation in critical raw materials; and between fragmentation and deflection in clean-energy technologies. Overall, the paper foregrounds the relational character of geopolitics and difficulty for the EU to develop a common geopolitical code in a world in transition.