Could Europe form one “bloc” in the global energy market? This is evidently not the case now. EU-countries are part of the IEA (International Energy Agency), the OECD-agency which in some ways forms a “bloc” in the global oil market, but it only does so in crisis situations. The US clearly does not view its membership of the OECD as in any way a constraint upon following its own international energy policy.
The EU is of course not in the same position as the US. As we all know, it is not a country. Nevertheless, after having spent 15 years liberalising and integrating its internal energy market (a process that supposedly will be “completed” in 2014), the EU is now finally beginning to turn its attention outward. With the new “External Energy Policy” recently proposed by the European Commission, it has taken a (very modest) first step towards becoming indeed an “energy bloc”.
The idea behind the proposed new “External Energy Policy” is that the European Commission will come to “monitor” all bilateral energy deals made between EU member states and non-EU countries. Presumably in a later phase such “monitoring” will evolve into more integrated energy relations with non-EU regions.
To an “outside” observer like Alexander Mirtchev, President of the US-based Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies International (RUSI), this approach makes a lot of sense. There is no region in the world, he notes, that is more dependent on imports of fossil fuels than the EU (which imports between €500 and €600 billion worth of oil and gas each year!). So, to deal with external suppliers as one bloc, can only strengthen its position in the world market.