EU Energy Union: a weapon against terrorism

By Rick Van Assel

The European Commission launched an ambitious energy project in the beginning of 2015. The so called Energy Union should make European countries exchange their energy resources, thus reducing the independence on foreign suppliers. But there might be another advantage to this plan, as several members of the European Parliament stated during the plenary session in Strasbourg that started on Monday the 23d of November. The Energy Union could well be an instrument in the fight against terrorism. 

In February 2015, the European Commission adopted its strategy to construct a European Energy Union. The aim of this project is to achieve an energy system that is more affordable, sustainable and secure. The strategy includes five dimensions: reduce emissions, improve energy efficiency, promote research and innovation, achieve an integrated internal energy market and assure security of supply. These efforts should, in the first place, make European Union (EU) countries less dependent on imports of oil and gas from foreign countries. For example, several EU states depend fully on Russia for their gas imports. This dependency puts these countries in a very weak position, both economically and politically.

However, the plans of forming this Energy Union could also be of importance when it comes to tackling terrorism. This is particularly the case for the import of oil coming from Saudi Arabia. The Sunni Gulf state is the fourth largest oil supplier to the EU, as statistics from the Commission show. In 2014, their supplies accounted for a small 9% of the EU’s total imports. And this is where the problem begins. “The energy problem has a direct link with the refugee crisis and with terrorism. The wealthy Saudi’s are one of the biggest sources of funding for the Islamic State”, Peter Liese stated during the plenary debate on the Energy Union on 24 November. Liese is a German member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the centre-right European People’s Party.

With that comment, Liese referred to the nature of the Saudi Arabian regime, the Wahhabism, which is a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. The Gulf state has been accused of supporting Sunni extremist groups several times. Belgian MEP Marc Demesmaeker, member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, said that the EU should perhaps reconsider its relation with Saudi Arabia. “This is a personal statement, but I have read a lot on this topic. Saudi Arabia has been exporting the Wahhabism to Europe and other parts of the world, for many decades. Their oil revenues made it possible to spend billions of dollars on exporting the Wahhabism into the heart of our society. We see the consequences of these actions in our cities. In Molenbeek for example”, he said during an interview with Belgian television in between the debates during the Strasbourg plenary session.

It will not be easy, however, to just ban EU countries from importing Saudi Arabian oil. Energy is a shared competence between the EU and the member states. This means that ultimately the member states decide from which countries they will import oil and gas. Investments in renewable energy and interconnectors between countries to share their energy reserves require big investments. From an economic point of view, it might be wiser for countries to keep importing cheaper Arabian oil.

The Energy Union could be one of the many instruments to combat terrorism. In order to succeed, European solidarity should prevail over countries’ nationalist reflexes and economic interests.