As Russia wages war in Ukraine and Iran maintains its hold on the Strait of Hormuz, Europe is getting a reality check about how energy can be weaponized—and now it should be “united” in addressing it, said Stavros Papastavrou, Greece’s minister of environment and energy.
Papastavrou spoke at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum on Wednesday, explaining that today’s crises have jolted Europe into a sense of “energy realism.”
Now, it is looking to become more resilient. And for Michael Damianos, Cyprus’s minister of energy, commerce, and industry, “becoming more resilient means being a bit more diversified.”
Cyprus currently holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, and Damianos explained that in diversifying, the EU needs to “develop [its] own internal sources of energy,” which “can … include fossil fuels as well.” Papastavrou agreed, arguing that Europe needs to develop “all” domestic resources “in order to be able to have our energy independence.”
While Europe maintains several ambitious renewable energy targets, Papastavrou argued that European leaders are realizing from this crisis that these goals, while “noble,” are based on “morality” and “did not take into account the competitiveness of the economy.”
“We need to be technologically neutral,” he said.
Below are more highlights from the conversation, moderated by Atlantic Council Europe Center Senior Director Jörn Fleck, which touched upon how the energy system around Europe is being reshaped—and the US role in supporting it.
The path out of this crisis
- Damianos explained that as Cyprus continues its term as president of the Council of the European Union, it will be looking to help Europe “get out of this crisis a bit quicker” than past geopolitical disruptions.
- He argued that there appears to be a “general consensus” between European energy ministers on how to get out of the crisis, but “it will take years to go exactly to the direction that we’re hoping to go.”
- However, he said, advancing the European Grids Package to strengthen the EU’s grid infrastructure would be “a very good start.”
- Papastavrou reiterated the need for Europe to enhance its energy infrastructure, arguing that “Europe does not have a true internal European energy market,” because in reality, “there are twenty-seven fragmented energy markets.”
- Both leaders pointed to the role of the United States in Europe’s energy future, with Papastavrou arguing that the involvement of US companies is “fundamental” to energy security for the whole region. Likewise, Damianos said that Europe should expand its energy relationship with the United States, “so we can rely on each other and not be reliant on a single source.”
The new contours of the energy system
- Papastavrou explained that with today’s geopolitical instability, the energy system is being entirely reshaped to have a “new geometry”—in which Greece and Cyprus are carving out a place at the “epicenter.”
- He walked the audience through all the shapes making up this new geometry: a “vertical corridor” bringing US liquefied natural gas up to Greece; a “triangle”-shaped energy partnership between Greece, Cyprus, and Israel; and a “circle” of cooperation with the East Mediterranean Gas Forum. Eventually, he added, this new geometry will include the “diagonal line” formed by the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor.
- Damianos highlighted the triangle-shaped 3+1 partnership between Cyprus, Greece, and Israel plus the United States, saying that having such “reliable” partners in a “volatile” area such as the Eastern Mediterranean is valuable in producing the hydrocarbons needed to support the region and Europe more broadly.
- On Thursday, the leaders participating in this partnership—including US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who spoke at the forum on Tuesday—will meet in Houston. Papastavrou explained that he hopes that they will “put some meat on the bone” there by making the partnership “more permanent.”
- Damianos said that Cyprus will be looking for assurances from its partners that it will get “assistance” in “putting Cyprus on the energy map,” now that it is slated to produce natural gas for export for the first time in 2028. He added that he is looking for “political support” to ensure that “geopolitics in the area are not going to affect” this timeline.
Katherine Golden is an associate director of editorial at the Atlantic Council.
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