Definition
The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are
located primarily in Europe. It was created to foster economic cooperation and increase
international trade in turn reducing conflict. The EU began as an economic union but has evolved
into an organization now covering policy areas from economics to human rights (European
Union, 2014).
Summary
The news article titled Polish PM calls for EU Energy Union is based on a written
statement by Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk as published in the Financial Times. Tusk
calls for the European Union (EU) to create an Energy Union to reduce dependence on Russian
energy (Writer, 2014).
Currently Russia provides approximately one third of the European Union’s oil and gas.
When Russia used military forces to annex Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March it provoked
the United States and Europe to impose sanctions on Russia if it would proceed with this action.
These sanctions have not prevented the Russian government from proceeding with its forced
annexation (Writer, 2014).
Tusk states that regardless the outcome of the Russian –Ukraine situation the extreme
reliance on Russian oil weakens Europe. He said the EU was in the midst of creating a banking
union and already jointly purchases uranium for nuclear power plants. He feels the same
approach should be taken in regards to Russian gas (Writer, 2014).
Tusk proposes this Energy Union would be responsible for the purchase of gas for all
28 nation members. It should help to finance storage facilities and reduce the dependency on
Russian gas. Currently 10 EU member states depend on Russian monopoly, Gazprom for more
than 50% of their gas use. The Union would look at purchasing gas from countries outside of
Europe and strengthen the current Energy Community of the EU (Writer, 2014).
Discussion
Heavy dependence on outside sources can weaken any organization, rather it is a business
or a nation no entity should depend on a single supplier for their entire inventory. While it seems
convenient and reduces the amount of time spent searching for new or better products you run a
risk of having no supply available in a crisis. If the EU nations were not so heavily dependent on
one gas supplier they would not be facing the potential reduction in fuel when sanctions are
imposed on a supplier.
Import and global trade is vital for the world economy, but should be done wisely
and diversely. It is important to assure the partner you trade with is stable, both economically
and politically. This reduces the amount of risk you take in importing products from the
region.
Sources
European Union. (2014, April 01). About-Eu. Retrieved from europa.eu:
http://www.europa.eu Lanthemann, M. (2014, April 15). Stratfor. Retrieved from
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com writer, S. (2014, April 21). india/report. Retrieved
from DNA India: http://www.dnaindia.com
Writer, S. (2014, April 21). News/Europe. Retrieved from Voice of America:
http://www.voanews.com
