On July 11th, the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center held an off-the-record strategy session with H.E. Vaclav Bartuska, Ambassador-at-Large for Energy Security, Czech Republic. Ambassador John Herbst, Director of the Center, introduced the Ambassador and moderated the discussion.
The crisis in Ukraine has shed light on the critical security challenges confronting Europe. Europe stands at an energy crossroads, debating a new European Energy Strategy. The private strategy session aimed to evaluate European energy security challenges and steps the United States and Europe can take to ensure that energy policies on both sides of the Atlantic are optimized to best serve the economic and security interests of the transatlantic community. The session also provided an opportunity for discussion on how Europe can diversify its gas interests to diminish its entrenched reliance on Gazprom and what Europe’s relations with Russia will be like moving forward.