All
 
|
 
 


Energy Security: Russian and European Legal Approaches (II)
 
PIIS231243500022052-5-1
DOI10.18572/S231243500022052-5
Publication type Article
Status Published
Authors
Sergey V. Kozlov 
Affiliation:
German-Russian Lawyers’ Association
University of Regensburg
Address: Germany
Journal nameEnergy law forum
EditionIssue 1
Pages96-100
Abstract

In the UK, oil and oil products are traded at one of the world’s largest mercantile exchanges, the London Intercontinental Exchange (ICE Futures Europe), which is a part of the American Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) founded in 2002. The latter is known to all players in the commodity market as a transnational mercantile exchange for trading in various goods. At the London Intercontinental Exchange, almost 50% of the global volume of transactions in futures for oil and oil products in the world is settled. The activities of the Stock Exchange are regulated in accordance with the requirements of the United Kingdom Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 by the controlled Bank of England as well as by the Commodity Exchange Act.

The author continues the study of issues of legal support of energy security. The first part of the study was published in the Energy Law Forum journal 2018, No. 3. The first part of the study considers the legal meaning of the concept of energy security taking into account the energy interests of various states, outlines and analyzes the main components of the energy security and the state’s role in ensuring thereof. While examining the role of the state in ensuring energy security, the author notes that the state uses both public law and private law methods, and concludes that the role of the state in ensuring security of energy supply consists, on the one hand, in forecasting supply and demand, securing favorable conditions for the activities of energy companies, regulation, state control (supervision), control of quality of energy (energy resources), and implementation of the national energy policy and, on the other hand, in the direct impact on production of energy (energy resources) by private law methods through participation in the authorized (share) capital of energy companies and adoption of corporate resolutions. In the second part of the article, the author examines the legal framework of energy security in the European Union, and analyzes the sources of European and national legal regulation (using Germany as an example). Based on the results of the study, including those set forth in the first part of the article, a number of conclusions and proposals were made, in particular, on the need to consolidate the concept of “energy security” in the effective laws.

 

Keywordsenergy law, legal framework of energy security, affordable energy, energy prices
Received20.12.2018
Publication date01.03.2019
Number of characters13297
Cite     Download pdf
1 In Germany, as well as in the European Union on the whole, the substantive content of the concept of energy security is based on three “pillars” (the so-called energy triad): security (including reliability and continuity), competitiveness, and eco-friendliness of the energy supply (environmental protection and climate policy aimed at sustainable development).
2 Herewith, it should be noted that ensuring European energy security shall become a common task within the Energy Union being formed.
3 Energy security is one of the top priorities in the Framework Strategy of the Energy Union [1]. Particular proposals for its provision are specified in the Sustainable Energy Supply Package published by the European Commission in February 2016 [2]. On the basis of these proposals, in October 2017, the European Commission adopted the Decree (Regulation) on Security of Gas Supply (Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 dated October 25, 2017) aimed at prevention of possible gas supply crises and introduction of the principle of solidarity in emergency situations [3]. The development of this document as well as the creation of the Energy Union as a whole was largely due to numerous Russian-Ukrainian gas conflicts as well as the political crisis in relations between the countries as a result of the events of 2014, which led to a particularly serious threat to the European energy security associated with the risk of reliable transit of Russian gas through Ukraine since Russia supplies the European energy market with about 35% of all natural gas imported to the EU. The escalation of the conflict between Naftogaz and Gazprom in March 2018, which led to the initiative of Gazprom, PJSC to terminate transit contracts [4], virtually confirms the timeliness of the adoption of this decree in terms of the EU interests.
4 Speaking about the energy triad of the European energy security, it should be noted that the competitiveness and eco-friendliness of energy supply are based on the principles of a common European energy policy for the development of competition (in this case, the main legal source is the Third Energy Package) and the implementation of a tough environmental policy applied to the energy sector (including striving for complete abandonment of the use of fossil fuels, development of RES, etc. [5]). And in these areas, in contrast to the third “pillar” of energy security, supply security, there is a relative consensus among the EU member states.
5 As is well known, the most ferocious debates are lately being held among the EU member states on the key component of the European energy security, security and reliability of energy supply, which for the European Union consists primarily in the diversification of supplies and reduction of energy dependence on exporting countries [6], among which Russia plays the most important part. The main one is the issue of reliability of supplies of Russian energy resources (including the reliability and expediency in terms of energy security of building of Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline) and the need for a deeper diversification of energy supplies. In the current geopolitical conditions, this discussion is one of the most topical in the field of ensuring the EU energy security.
6 In accordance with paragraph “b”, Article 194 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, ensuring security of energy supply within the EU is one of the main objectives of the EU common energy policy [7].
7 Nevertheless, it seems that full Europeanization and unification of energy security policy within the EU is impossible by definition due to the very nature of energy security, which, as already noted, is linked to the national peculiarities. Each state, including the EU member states, has its own national interests in the energy sector, which is clear in the example of construction of Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline. In the electricity markets, the difference in approaches of the EU member states to energy security is also caused by different ideas about the use of nuclear energy, coal, and RES.
8 It should also be noted that due to its nature, national energy security is an unconditional public interest, and its ensuring is one of the most important public tasks. Attention to this circumstance is drawn in the judicial practice. Thus, while considering one of the cases back in 1971, in the Resolution dated March 16, 1971, the Federal Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany (BVerfG) noted that “the security of energy supply... is the public interest of the highest rank. The constant availability of a sufficient amount of energy is a decisive prerequisite for functioning of the economy as a whole” [8], and in the Resolution dated March 20, 1984, it emphasized that “ensuring energy supply through adoption of relevant measures... is a public task of the highest importance” [9].
9 Nevertheless, based on the performed analysis of the components (bases) of energy security [10], it cannot be said that energy security is a purely public interest. Ensuring national (state) energy security is inextricably linked to the private interests of individuals and legal entities primarily in terms of the availability and affordability of energy. That is why, speaking about ensuring energy security, it is important to find a balance between the private interests of individuals and the public interests.

views: 196

Readers community rating: votes 0 

1. See: A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy, Br ssel, February 25, 2015, in English: https://eurlex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:1bd46c90bdd4-11e4-bbe1-01aa75ed71a1.0002.01/DOC_1&format=PDF 
2. See: website of the European Commission: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP16-307_en.htm 
3. Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council dated October 25, 2017 (Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2017 concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply and repealing Regulation (EU) No. 994/2010). OJ. L 280 dated October 28, 2017. P. 1–56.
4. Gazprom Terminates Contracts with Naftogaz // Kommersant. March 2, 2018: https://www.kommersant.ru/  doc/3565478
5. See: 2030 Climate and Energy Framework (at the website of the European Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/  clima/policies/strategies/2030_de), Directive on Renewable Energy Sources (2009/28/ЕС dated April 23, 2009), OJ. L 140 dated September 5, 2009, P. 16–62 etc.
6. European Energy Security Strategy dated May 28, 2014, https://eur-ex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/PD  F/?uri=CELEX:52014DC0330&from=EN
7. Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, consolidated version. OJ C 326, October 26, 2012, p. 47–390. For the Russian version, see ConsultantPlus Information and Legal System and Garant Information and Legal System.
8. Beschluss vom 16.03.1971, BVerfGE 30, 292 (311 f.)
9. Beschluss vom 20.03.1984, BVerfGE 66, 248 (258)
10. Kozlov S.V. Energy Security: European and Russian Legal Approaches // Energy Law Forum. No. 3. 2018. P. 41–48.

Система Orphus

Loading...
Up