Securitisation and European natural gas policy

European energy policy is generally regarded as one of the most longstanding failures of the process of integration. However in recent years there has been an intensification of efforts to establish an internal market for gas and work towards a common energy policy. In parallel to these developments, concerns about energy security have reappeared on the political agenda after a long absence, partly due to rising oil prices, energy dependence and the recent disruptions of gas supplies from Russia. This expansion of EU energy policy activity in parallel to increased energy security concerns suggests a possible linkage between the two. The aim of this thesis is to examine this relationship through the perspective of securitisation theory, utilising but also extending the framework of the Copenhagen School. More specifically, it aims to analyse the process through which natural gas supplies in the European Union were securitised and explore its impact on the pace of European integration. Discourse analysis and process tracing, enriched with a set of elite-interviews are used to answer these questions. Two case-studies of energy security, concerning the internal market and the security of supply standards are explored in a comparative manner. The analysis demonstrates that while high levels of securitisation have had a negative impact on negotiations for the former, they have had a positive impact and have accelerated the europeanisation of the later.

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