Winter is coming: Russian gas, Italy and the post-war European politics of energy security

Abstract

Abstract By focussing on the Italian case and on transformations in state-market relations in the natural gas sector, this article examines the post-war European politics of energy security. It argues that rather than fostering EU-level path-breaking measures, the war has brought back the ‘partner state’ in the EU energy realm. This model, which supported the structuration of East-West energy interdependence during the Cold War, envisages direct modes of state intervention and closer government-energy company cooperation at home and abroad. Although the return of the (partner) state is helping Western European consumers by reducing their dependence on Russian gas, it has negative implications. It favours intra-European competition, limits further supranational integration in the energy sector and risks undermining the EU climate goals. This latter risk can be amplified by the encounter of the partner state with right-wing populist climate-sceptic parties, while it can be mitigated by the ‘greening’ of the partner state.