External pressures from 'enemies', 'rivals' and 'allies': EU energy policy integration in response to geopolitical challenges

The European Union (EU) has recently experienced major energy crises as a result of the deteriorating regional and global geopolitical environment. The effect of these crises on the advancement of EU energy policy integration has varied greatly across sub-fields of this ever-expanding policy domain. This paper argues that understanding the impact of external influences on EU energy policy integration requires disentangling the multiple sources of geopolitical pressure facing the EU. By focusing on three sources of external pressure (Russia, China and the US) the paper identifies several integration pathways in sub-fields of EU energy policy: reluctant integration in gas supplies; constrained integration in critical raw materials; and non-integration in clean-energy technologies. The paper takes inspiration in the notion of 'geopolitical codes' to explain how the different representations of the potential allies and enemies shape the way in which the EU articulates a response to energy challenges. Geopolitical codes affect member states' external dependencies and politicisation, traced in this paper via energy trade and industry data, European parliamentary votes and public opinion polls. Overall, the paper foregrounds the relational character of geopolitics and difficulty for the EU to develop a common geopolitical code in a world in transition.