The Greek energy security policy: Greek views in the EU context and required actions to secure supply

ELIAMEP’s Working Paper no 4 by  Dr. Filippos Proedrou, Lecturer of Politics and International Relations in City College, Thessaloniki, aims to examine the Greek policy of energy security. The analysis is divided in two parts: the practical and the normative. After analyzing the main problems of energy security at the European level, the paper presents the Greek “dual policy” of, on the one hand, promoting a strategic relationship with its main energy supplier, Russia, through the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis and South Stream pipelines, and on the other, attempting to diversify its sources of supply. At the normative level, disagreements inside the European Union are examined, with reference to the rules which will regulate the natural gas trade in the wider European region. On this matter, Greece would support arrangements which will allow the unconstrained flow of Russian gas in the European and Greek markets, as this is of crucial importance in the national energy security planning.