Central Asia and the EU's Drive Towards Energy Diversification

In recent years, Central Asia has increasingly come under the focus of the European Union (EU). This development occurred not least due to a series of interruptions in the supply of Russian natural gas to the EU. The negative effects these supply cuts had on Gazprom's perceived reliability as a supplier caused the Union to gradually step up its efforts towards energy diversification in the region. However, competition over supplies is fierce, as Russia and China are equally intensifying their efforts. Several large-scale initiatives are currently underway or have reached completion, including the EU backed Nabucco pipeline, Russia's South Stream project and the Turkmenistan-China pipeline. Through an extensive consultation among key-stakeholders involved, the paper provides a thorough analysis of the current status of EU-Central Asian energy relations and their major challenges. Departing from a brief chronological analysis that dates from the early 1990s until today, the paper identifies four key outstanding issues which are subsequently analysed in greater detail: (i) the potential of and the challenges for the various diversification efforts currently being undertaken by the EU; (ii) the troublesome link between democracy and human rights promotion in the region on the one hand and energy diversification on the other; (iii) coherence in external energy relations; and (iv) what role the Lisbon Treaty plays in this regard and whether there is a need for a new specific external energy treaty to guide the Union's external efforts vis-à-vis Central Asia. The paper concludes with a number of recommendations on each set of challenges.