 On 11 May 2006 the Center for the Study of Democracy hosted a round table on the topic Prospects of Energy Security in Europe with guest speaker Mr. Philip Stephens, associate editor of the Financial Times and senior commentator at the newspaper. Participants in the event were UK Ambassador Jeremy Hill, Mr. Valeri Rachev, Ambassador of Bulgaria to Iraq, Dr. Ognian Shentov, Chairman of CSD, Mr. Assen Dyulgerov, attorney-at-law, Ambassador Boyko Noev, CSD European Program Director, Mr. Emil Yalnazov, Director of the UN and Global Affairs Directorate at the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others.
Several aspects are key to a sustainable energy policy today – efficiency, liberalization of the energy market and cooperation; the larger EU perspective is towards a better coordination between economic, foreign and energy policy. Energy policy is central to Bulgaria economically, politically and strategically and consequently there is a need for an active public debate. Among the issues discussed was Bulgaria’s dependency on Russia regarding oil and gas supply. The future Belene nuclear power station project was discussed as a possible solution for the future; still, there might well be a reliance on Russian technology for it too. In the UK, the increased use of renewables and efficiency in consumption are among the main objectives in this area.
Several possible scenarios of the energy policy development were discussed. A pessimistic view is that Russia sees its energy as a means to geopolitics - relations with Ukraine and Georgia illustrate Russia’s capacity to divide. However, the positive view is that Russia needs and is willing to sell its gas and oil, and its pipelines are heading West. Europe should thus respond in several ways but should avoid the “divide and rule” strategy. First of all, it should express solidarity, i.e. the deals must be done with a view to fitting in transmission systems, serving a number of countries. Second, Europe should aim at a transparent and liberal market. Third, it should be considering the development of an alternative pipelines not based on a single European system.
 
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