Energy policy or foreign policy?
Energy 17 November 2014Since Gaddafi’s fall in 2011 and despite June 2014 elections, political stability in Libya is a pipe dream.
While John Kerry was declaring that the Libya issue is a sovereign matter that does not need any external interference, the Italian prime minister and current president of the EU Council, Matteo Renzi, went to Libya to affirm the importance of stability in the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea for the European Union. The different approaches do not depend only on different foreign policy strategies.
The Atlantic Ocean separates the American continent from Africa: no desperate Libyan refugee nor threatening missile can reach the US from Libya. Obviously, the European geographic position demands the UE to have a more participative interest towards the Libyan internal situation.
Last but not least, energetic concerns affect the priorities of our High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Indeed, thanks to shale gas, the US are currently energetically independent, while the EU needs a gas supply diversification: to Europe, Libya and Algeria are virtually the only alternative to Russian gas, in a period when the Ukraine crisis is threatening the EU energy supply.
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