Event Reports
Dr Michael Köhler, Head of Cabinet Head of Cabinet of Commissioner Günther H. Oettinger at the European Commission and Dr Louis Skyner, Commercial Manager at Statoil ASA in Russia held the introductory statements before we embarked on adiscussion, introduced by Iulian Chifu, Associate Professor at the Bucharest National School of Political and Administrative Studies and Advisor to the Romanian President on Strategic Affairs, Security and Foreign Policy.
After a welcome by Professor Dr Friedbert Pflüger, Director of EUCERS and Claudia Crawford, Director KAS in London, Michael Köhler gave a speech on the external dimension of EU energy policy. The European Commission adopted a communication on security of energy supply and international cooperation in September 2011 to support common EU action in energy relations. The EU is to speak with one voice in energy relations with countries outside the EU rather than maintaining bi-lateral agreements and actions. Michael Köhler also briefed the audience on the internal coordination mechanisms to be implemented to ensure coordinated actions of the member states in energy relations.
Louis Skyner then gave an insight in Russian energy politics. Louis began with setting the scene with an analysis of dependency of the Russian economy on oil and gas export revenues and Russia’s exposure to global energy market developments. He then focused on EU-Russia relations and the initiatives taken.
Iulian Chifu introduced the discussion with the approximately 60 participants, including industry experts, academics and diplomacy, with a 5-minute intervention giving us a Romanian perspective on EU external energy relations.
After the discussion Louis Skyner and Iulian Chifu also participated in a recording for the departmental podcast, which can be found online on http://warstudies.podomatic.com/.
