EU Oberver: EU and Russia: The pipeline race delusion

Every year, the same ritual repeats itself in the European energy debate. The cooler the temperatures outside, the more heated the debates over natural gas supply security become.

For years now, discussions have been following the same well-trodden path.

It is considered an established fact that the European Union's import demand is constantly rising and that Europe is becoming ever more vulnerable to blackmail attempts by gas-producing countries, particularly Russia.

These days, the debate is focused on the recent opening of the Nord Stream pipeline, which for the first time brings Russian gas directly to Western Europe, circumventing transit countries like Belarus, Poland and Ukraine.  MORE