NATO's relevance in energy security

ENEnergy security issues have been attracting significant attention in recent decades in the Baltic Sea region, not least because of the asymmetries in the interdependencies of energy supply links among the users and suppliers of energy resources. These patterns of (inter)dependence and the use of them by countries such as Russia to exercise power over the neighbouring countries for its political purposes acted as a major motivation for the efforts of the Baltic states and other countries in the region to increase their energy security in the context of perceived external risks. The establishment and functioning of the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence (ENSEC COE) in 2012 in Vilnius should be seen as a collective effort to deal with risks to the energy security of NATO member states. It serves as an important signal that energy security concerns deserve collective attention and capacities to deal with energy-related risks for which NATO could provide an appropriate institutional platform. However, as it will be discussed below, the activities of NATO in the area of energy security, though producing effects which extend beyond strictly military aspects of energy security, should be regarded only as a supplement to other national and regional policy measures aimed at increasing energy security. It is national, sub-regional and EU policies aimed at increasing the sources of supply, competition and innovation in the existing networks of electricity, natural gas, oil and other types of energy links which should continue to receive appropriate attention of the Baltic states and other allied nations’ policymakers.