New Possible NATO Role in the Field of Energy Security
New Possible NATO Role in the Field of Energy Security

Summary/Abstract: The primary aim of the paper is to present a new possible NATO role in the field of energy security. More precisely, the paper focuses on the approach of polarizing and securing energy supply, NATO’s involvement and role in the field of energy security, as well as the difficulty in defining the role of the Alliance in energy security. The main focus in the paper lies on analyzing the more serious NATO involvement and analyzing the beginnings of such thoughts in the Alliance’s strategic documents. These aspects will be analyzed through two crucial moments. The first one is a more military and security focus reflecting the Alliance’s need for the implementation of practical and logistical planning for the protection of energy supplies, especially oil. The second moment for the Alliance's involvement in discussions of energy security is more related to political pressure and threats to energy security. This argument gained strength in particular after the dispute between Ukraine and the Russian company Gazprom at the beginning of 2006. The Summits in Riga in 2006 and in Bucharest in 2008 and their accompanying documents provide basic guidelines for the future mandate of NATO. This means that NATO needs to reconsider its potential role in the field of energy security. The Alliance is facing two parallel debates concerning the definition of interruption of supplies of energy. Should it be a military cease including an armed attack or it will be perhaps in the context of competition for access to certain resources? Answers to these questions in extreme cases may be the involvement of armed security infrastructure. The second debate is going in the direction of defining the interruption of supplies of energy, including the political reasons which are hard to define and prove. In this case, it is difficult to expect a consensus of all partners when undertaking certain actions. Therefore, the Alliance will have to actively work on its role in the field of energy security in the context of its evolutionary path, which refers to the existence and functioning in the international security arena.

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