Guest post: reshaping the gas map of central Europe | beyondbrics

Guest post: reshaping the gas map of central Europe | beyondbrics:

"The tug-of-war between the European Union and Russia over Ukraine has highlighted – if that were necessary – the geopolitical role of natural gas in the region. But for much of the rest of central Europe, an ambitious plan to complete a North-South Gas Corridor offers the potential for a separate geopolitical breakthrough to rival the region’s regime changes of 1989.

The plan dates to 2009 when central European countries, which at the time depended on the east for some 70 to 80 per cent of their gas supplies, were hit to varying degrees by the interruption of supplies caused by a dispute between Ukraine and Russia. In the aftermath of the crisis, cooperation in the region intensified and was institutionalised, including at the EU level.

The crisis showed not only the need for diversification of supply in central Europe but also the role of regional solidarity in efficiently managing the risk of sudden cuts. During the crisis the Czech Republic established reverse flow to Slovakia, while Hungary made emergency supplies from its stockpiles available to the western Balkans. This is exactly how the idea of the North-South Gas Corridor was born."

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