EU Energy Cooperation in the Neighbourhood: Tailoring the Rules of the Game?

Abstract

Luigi Carafa’s chapter analyses the development of energy cooperation in the neighbourhood between the mid-nineties and today. Firstly, regional energy cooperation under three different frameworks, the Energy Community, the neighbourhood policy, and the Union for the Mediterranean is studied. Secondly, this chapter analyses bilateral energy cooperation with three key neighbours: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco. These differ in terms of market size, their relative energy interdependence with the EU, and the availability of indigenous energy resources. Importantly, this country-sample also captures the major geopolitical features of the EU’s external energy relations in the neighbourhood very poignantly: Algeria and Egypt are the two most important energy producing countries involved in cooperation with the EU, while Morocco is a key energy transit country towards Europe.