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The word “resilience” has gained huge relevance in the European public sphere in recent times, as the impact of different crises, from the global pandemic to the war in Ukraine and the consequent inflation dynamic, has shown. Energy has a peculiar role in such a context, and energy security has become a key issue for European leaders, as well as for companies across the whole continent and the EU households. The nationwide blackout that occurred on April 28th in the Iberian Peninsula, affecting both the Spanish and Portuguese energy grids, opened a new discussion about the resilience of European countries in front of such problems.

Driven by geopolitical tensions, climate change, and evolving energy demands, Europe faces growing challenges in maintaining energy security. Functional deficiencies or hybrid threats can jeopardise the stability of the EU grids, potentially derailing the everyday life of hundreds of millions of citizens. In this way, while historically well-developed infrastructure and regional cooperation have bolstered Europe’s ability to handle energy disruptions, emerging threats and the green transition have tested the limits of this resilience. Nevertheless, European countries have shown a remarkable ability to adapt through a combination of policy innovation, technological advancement, and social preparedness. The recent push by the EU Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen to boost emergency readiness throughout the whole Union is a strong sign of this dynamic and the better acknowledgement in Brussels about the critical components of the European security environment.

At the end of March, the European plan for managing crises, presented by the EU Commission, was greeted with skepticism and even hilarity. The Preparedness Union Strategy urged the bloc’s citizens to prepare in advance to manage possible wars, large-scale cyber attacks, pandemics and the impacts of the climate crisis, among other things, by accumulating emergency supplies to survive for 72 hours without external help. Specifically, the new strategy includes around 30 essential measures to ensure the safety and well-being of European citizens. These include the development of an in-depth risk and threat assessment, the improvement of early warning systems, the creation of a dedicated task force, civil emergency preparedness programmes, and joint prevention and response exercises, as well as the creation of guidelines to ensure the population’s self-sufficiency for at least 72 hours. What happened in Spain and Portugal has led many people in the EU to rethink the usefulness of the Preparedness Union strategy in the face of an unexpected crisis that had very serious immediate consequences for the citizens affected, albeit for a limited number of hours. In the overall view of the impact of a blackout on citizens, it should also be remembered that the EU has a clear vision of how to best guarantee energy security on the continent, but it is up to individual countries to decide on their own national strategies. This therefore also has an impact on the choice of the energy mix to be used, with various lobbies competing for funding to facilitate certain types of infrastructure. The blackout in Spain and Portugal has, for example, given new impetus to the discussion on the return of nuclear power in various countries that have abandoned or weakened it over time. Those who criticise the – alleged – excessive use of renewables have a vision that often goes better with sources of fuels considered obsolete, whether fossil fuels or nuclear.

Written by: Francesco Marino