Relations UE-Russie : les enjeux d'une nouvelle architecture gazière

The EU gas security is a key factor of its energy policy. The contractual relations based on long-term contracts during the 1970s and 1980s led to relative stability in energy trade between EU and its gas suppliers. But since the mid-1990s, the process of opening up the EU's gas industries to competition and the desire to create a single gas market led to an in-depth reorganization of the sector. In this context, the EU intends to redefine the way in which it manages its relations with its main suppliers like Russia by attempting to impose a model based on competition, unbundling of network industries and privatization. This "EU model" is no longer the one that Russia intends to implement in its gas sector, despite the big changes taking place in its domestic market. An approach based on the preferential use of state instruments conflicts with the multilateralism and principles of competition of the EU. The EU's normative power is thus in contradiction with the institutional environment of the Russian energy sector. In this context, it is unlikely that standards based on international rules and institutions could only be used to structure energy relations between the EU and Russia.