Cooperation and Security: Examining the Political Discourse on Natural Gas Transit in Ukraine and Slovakia

Kateryna Yakovenko and Matúš Mišík
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Kateryna Yakovenko: Department of Political Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, Gondova ulica 2, 81102 Bratislava, Slovakia
Matúš Mišík: Department of Political Science, Comenius University in Bratislava, Gondova ulica 2, 81102 Bratislava, Slovakia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic appeared in the midst of developing the European Green Deal, the most ambitious project to decarbonise the EU’s economy to date. Among other issues, the project highlighted the challenges connected to the long-term role of natural gas as a fossil fuel in the European economy. Moreover, the changes to the gas architecture caused by the development of new import infrastructure (especially Nord Stream and its extension, which is currently under construction) put additional pressure on the transit countries, mainly of which are linked to the Brotherhood pipeline. These have been strong supporters of natural gas utilisation and harsh critics of new pipelines that circumvent their territories, as they consider energy transit to be an important part of their energy sectors. This research examines the political discourse on gas transit in Slovakia and Ukraine in order to identify the main arguments connected to these positions. The paper examines a total of 233 textual units from both countries for the period 2014–2018. It concludes that, while Ukraine sees transit predominantly through the lens of cooperation with the EU and other actors, the Slovak political discourse considers gas transit in terms of energy security and the availability of gas for the national economy.

Keywords: European Union; decarbonisation; discourse; natural gas; Slovakia; transit; Ukraine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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