Brussels, 05/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - The visit of European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Canete to Algiers on Tuesday 5 May is primarily about Algeria - a significant country on the energy scene - but the broader issue is the Euro-Mediterranean and the need for structured dialogue.
According to official European sources, Canete's visit to Algiers is to launch the Energy Dialogue, which was sealed when the then European Commission president José Manuel Barroso signed a memorandum of understanding on energy in July 2013. The objective of Canete's visit is to “agree on the operational modalities” and “to begin working on a number of concrete cooperation actions” in the gas, renewable energy and energy efficiency sub-sectors by encouraging synergies. The idea is to “facilitate investment in new projects for natural gas exploration and production”. Beyond the “technical” aspect, there is an important economic issue, as Barroso had stated. The memorandum proposes an “instrument for development through energy cooperation (…) both on conventional and renewable sources, on the energy industry and technology transfer”.
The need is mutual. The EU needs to ensure its supply, to diversify its sources and to take account of the new dimension acquired through the use of gas in energy consumption against a totally changing global backdrop. Algeria, which is linked to the EU through long term supply contracts, essentially intends to safeguard its market share in the face of growing competition, and to preserve an income that is crucial for its political and social stability and for its role in the region in terms of security and diplomatic influence. Algeria represents 13% of European purchases, Libya 2% and Egypt 1%. North Africa is the EU's third biggest gas supplier.
Many experts believe this cooperation is a major issue for the whole Mediterranean. Indeed, the Mediterranean has become a major component in the European strategy. “Perhaps imperceptibly, the EU uses the abundance of natural gas from countries not too far away” in the Mediterranean as “a lever” for safeguarding its supply in the face of an uncertain situation with Russia.
Further off, the outlook of cooperation would “naturally favour the emergence of peace” in this troubled but crucial region, says Samuele Furfari, an adviser in the European Commission's Energy Department and author of books on the issue. In the collective work which came out at the end of 2014 (“The issue of energy in the Mediterranean”), Furfari confirms that “the Mediterranean is at the centre of vast gas reserves (Middle East, Maghreb, Israel and Cyprus)” and that it “is also the crossing point of the gas the EU needs” (see EUROPE 11251). Everything transits through the Mediterranean, he says, even towards Northern Europe from eastern Africa where “a gas eldorado” is announced, and from the Gulf (especially Qatar) and central Asia. “It is therefore appropriate to think about how to create gas hub conditions in an EU member state which is in the Mediterranean”. The hub would be along the lines of the EU's “security of supply strategy”. It would take the form of a “platform” serving all the member states and would enable “a gas exchange to be formed on the ground” and “a real gas market free from all geopolitical control”. Creating a platform is already part of the Euro-Mediterranean agenda (see EUROPE 11120 and 11273). An initial meeting on this took place in March.
Nevertheless, the outlook “involves starting a strengthened trade and political dialogue with the countries of North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean”. In short, there is a need to structure this relationship that is vital for everyone on both sides of the Mediterranean. Furfari picks up the previously expressed theme of a “Euro-Mediterranean Energy Community” - like the ECSC which led to the European Community. “As it did it for itself, 60 years ago, the EU can claim to serve as a model” and propose the framework for “resource sharing” and especially for stemming the flows of migrants transported at sea, replacing their boats with methane carriers or fixed gas pipes, Furfari states (our translation throughout). (Fathi B'Chir)