Miguel Arias Cañete: "In Unity There is Strength"

In his speech at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center, recently appointed European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy, Miguel Arias Cañete, offered what he said was a famous saying in Spanish, translated as "In unity there is strength," and referring to how Europe had dealt with the difficulties it had been experiencing in its energy security sphere.

He said, "To me, this idea should underpin everything we do on energy security."

Mr. Arias Cañete pledged to explain why he felt this way, naming the challenges in the EU, like the difficulty of securing a reliable flow of energy to Europe's economies.

"Energy is the engine of our growth," he noted. "This is why it is crucial to have competitive, secure and sustainable supplies."

Today's global energy map, he said, is being redrawn, with global energy demand increasing by a third by 2040. "The European Union, meanwhile, will decrease its share of global energy demand from 12% today down to 8% in the year 2040," he countered, but added that global energy markets input of hydrocarbons to Europe will still be increasing because of decreasing indigenous supplies.

The decline, according to Mr. Arias Cañete, will be offset by increases in renewables and increased energy efficiency, in light of the EU's binding targets for 2030.

"But this will not make us energy independent overnight," he said, noting that Europe was dependent upon oil & gas imports, receiving one third of its gas from Russia.

The Ukrainian crisis, he said, had shown Europe's vulnerability; the gas crises of 2006/2009, meanwhile, showed a pattern and offered a lesson.

He explained, "When it comes to energy, don't put your fate in the hands of autocratic regimes."

Through great crises, however, came great opportunities, according to him.

"In the aftermath of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, European leaders adopted a security strategy. This set up a number of measures to improve Europe's security; however, we quickly saw that we needed a more decisive, ambitious approach," he recalled.

In June of last year, he said Europe had agreed to create an energy union, "because to be secure, we must first be united." Mr. Arias Cañete said that the details of this plan will be available at the end of this month.

Moreover, Mr. Arias Cañete said that the South Stream saga can be a lesson. "From now on, we will focus on projects that expand our diversity of supply. The Southern Corridor project will be a top priority."

An internal energy market, he added, is also a priority for the EU, uniting the market physically through infrastructure and technically via network codes, creating an investor friendly sector that also repels monopolies. He also named energy efficiency measures, and decarbonization of the energy mix to decrease imports, but his final point was research and innovation - technologies like renewables, smart grids and carbon capture storage, among others.

He commented, "Together, these measures will make a strong, unified Europe, ready to stand against those who use energy as a political weapon."

In this, he said, Europe needs its allies like the US with which it can stand together on issues like trade and climate change in light of the pending climate change meeting this year in Paris. He contends that reaching a climate deal there will send long-term clarity to the markets, if the US and EU are on the same page.

Transatlantic cooperation regarding Ukraine, according to Commissioner Arias Cañete, had been "immense."

"From reform measures in Ukraine, to sanctions against Russia; from reverse gas flow from Slovakia to Ukraine, to the integration of South-east Europe to the European energy market - all have been driven by EU/US cooperation," he explained.

Even more can be achieved, he said, via transatlantic energy trade. "We need gas to be freely traded across the Atlantic."

Despite Europe's energy challenges, Mr. Arias Cañete said he remains optimistic.

The Atlantic Council's Dávid Korányi, Director, Eurasian Energy Futures Initiative, asked Mr. Arias Cañete about the possible capacities the Southern Corridor project, but pointed out that only 10 BCM of gas is guaranteed to come from Azerbaijan. While it is intended to be a "gas superhighway," additional quantities of gas - specifically the sources - are all problematic: from Turkmenistan, the Eastern Mediterranean region, Iran, etc.

Mr. Arias Cañete replied that the Southern Corridor is proceeding, while meetings are taking place with Turkmenistan, although he admitted there could be problems.

"We want to develop the Southern Corridor but as South Stream has been cancelled, for South-east Europe we also have to develop infrastructures."

Towards that, he reported that a high level group will convene in Sofia on Monday, 9 February to assess the region's gas transport structures and how to make them more efficient and build new interconnectors, and eventually to hook the region up to three different supplies of natural gas: Azerbaijani, Russian and LNG supplies to the Croatian island of Krk.

Of South Stream, he commented that Europe was taking the Russians at their word. "For us Europeans it was not a priority, because it didn't diversify either for suppliers or for routes. So our main objection was the Russians didn't comply with European regulations.

"We stuck to our rules and it has not been built," he added.

According to him, the EU's plan to invest EUR 350 billion would enable it to attract the necessary investment to finance infrastructure projects across Europe.

-Drew Leifheit