Russia and EU cooperation in energy policy – Sending and receiving messages?

Abstract

The Normative Power Europe literature has spent considerable attention on how the European Union (EU) has influence outside its borders. Few studies examine how EU ‘messages’ are being received in third (non-EU) countries. This article examines how EU energy policy is ‘received’ in Russian media. Through a detailed media analysis of five snapshots of 1 month of articles in two leading Russian newspapers over 5 years (2009–2013), we argue that the Russian media does not receive EU messages quite the way the EU intends them to be received, even though Russia does respond to the so-called Third Energy Package. This article contributes to our overall understanding of EU-Russia relations by offering a Russian perspective and thereby contributes to our general understanding of how EU external influence works in countries outside the EU.