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1. EU-Pacific Talks: Trade relations with the Indo-Pacific

Author:
Eliška Prostřední
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Europeum Institute for European Policy
Abstract:
Overall, the debate focused on the diversification of global trading partners and how to achieve it. Speakers also discussed the threats associated with dependence on only a few strong countries, which can then take the position of rule makers. The whole debate was linked to the possibilities of global trade with countries that are part of the Indo-Pacific region. Writes Eliska Prostřední in her report on the debate "EU-Pacific Talks: Trade relations with the Indo-Pacific".
Topic:
International Trade and Finance, Partnerships, Diversification, Trade, Debates, and Economic Dependence
Political Geography:
Europe and Indo-Pacific

2. Sub-Saharan Africa May Be a New Source of Gas for the EU

Author:
Jędrzej Czerep
Publication Date:
10-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Polish Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
In order to become independent from supplies of energy resources from Russia, EU countries are intensively looking for alternative gas import opportunities, including from Sub-Saharan Africa. This direction may become an important element of European diversification, but its development requires external investments and improvement and expansion of the existing infrastructure. European companies and the EU itself can play a key role in this regard.
Topic:
Energy Policy, European Union, Gas, and Diversification
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa

3. A Scramble for Gas: Qatari LNG and EU Diversification Plans

Author:
Pier Paolo Raimondi
Publication Date:
04-2022
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
Amidst a worsening geopolitical and energy crisis in Europe, the EU is scrambling to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports as one component of its larger objective to reduce its overdependence on Russian gas. In 2021, the EU imported 155 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas from Russia (140 bcm via pipeline and 15 bcm of LNG). Under its REPowerEU initiative, the European Commission aims to increase LNG imports to replace 50 bcm of Russian gas by the end of 2022.
Topic:
European Union, Geopolitics, Gas, Diversification, and Energy
Political Geography:
Europe and Qatar

4. Energising EU enlargement? The prospects of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans

Author:
Wouter Zweers, Giulia Cretti, and Kristina Naunova
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations
Abstract:
With the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, the 2050 climate neutrality goal of the European Union has been extended to the six countries in South-Eastern Europe that aspire to join the Union. The Green Agenda is a promising tool for fostering climate and energy policy measures in the Western Balkans, a region with high vulnerability to climate change risks and little energy diversification away from coal. But could the Green Agenda also be a catalyst for renewed interest and enhanced political engagement, leading to a much-needed impetus to the EU enlargement process? This policy brief asks how the Green Agenda can work in the interest of both the objective of a climate neutral continent and the EU accession of the Western Balkan countries.
Topic:
Climate Change, Energy Policy, European Union, and Diversification
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Balkans

5. The Workforce of Pioneer Plants

Author:
Ricardo Hausmann and Frank Neffke
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
Is labor mobility important in technological diffusion? We address this question by asking how plants assemble their workforce if they are industry pioneers in a location. By definition, these plants cannot hire local workers with industry experience. Using German social-security data, we find that such plants recruit workers from related industries from more distant regions and local workers from less-related industries. We also show that pioneers leverage a low-cost advantage in unskilled labor to compete with plants that are located in areas where the industry is more prevalent. Finally, whereas research on German reunification has often focused on the effects of east-west migration, we show that the opposite migration facilitated the industrial diversification of eastern Germany by giving access to experienced workers from western Germany.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Labor Issues, Labor Policies, Human Capital, Diversification, and Mobility
Political Geography:
Europe, Germany, and European Union

6. Diversification projects in Ukraine’s energy sector: state, problems and ways of achievement

Author:
Yevhen Shulha
Publication Date:
01-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
National Security and Defence
Institution:
Razumkov Centre
Abstract:
Ukraine, seeking to back future sustainable development of the national economy with energy resources, is interested in their reliable deliveries. Since large volumes of energy resources are imported from one country (or through the territory of one country) – Russia, Ukraine logically and reasonably tries to diversify their sources and in that way minimise risks for its energy security, including political ones. The plans to diversify sources of energy supply, first of all, to reduce energy dependence on the Russian Federation, for years have been declared in official documents of different levels (e.g., the Energy Strategy of Ukraine through 2030). Meanwhile, those questions caused most acute discussions in the Ukrainian political community and in society, which hindered implementation of diversification projects. The current stage of such projects’ development bears traits endangering their implementation. First, the global economic crisis that substantially complicated normal functioning of the Ukrainian economy also strongly affected operation of the national energy sector: in the conditions of foreign credits shortage and reduction of budget allocations on specific energy projects and the energy sector as a whole, investments in the energy sector go down, hindering its development. So, the global economic crisis adjusts plans that even before were not zealously implemented. Second, another “gas war” (January 2009) again complicated the uneasy relations of Ukraine with its strategic partner in the energy sector – Russia. And any economically unsound decisions may not only destabilise supply of energy resources but lead to their cut. Third, aggravation of home political confrontation on the eve of the presidential elections, unfortunately, extends to diversification projects in the energy sector. This greatly undermines the effectiveness of Ukraine’s international cooperation with foreign governments and transnational companies, since diversification projects are international, their implementation requires huge investments and import of advanced technologies. An economic choice of diversification projects should make that area of the energy sector reform the core of Ukraine’s energy strategy, concentrate funds on priority directions of development, cease excessive politicisation of that issue in society, making those projects nation-wide. At the same time, it is clear that irrespective of the diversification projects implementation time, Russia will remain the main partner for Ukraine in the energy sector in the long run. The pause in the “race” of international diversification projects caused by the global economic crisis enables Ukraine and its partners in implementation of said projects to defer for some time, without particular losses, passage of final decisions for all-round analysis of the goals they face and search of the most effective and acceptable for all actors ways of their attainment.
Topic:
Oil, Natural Resources, Gas, Diversification, and Energy
Political Geography:
Europe and Ukraine