Over the past few years, the issue of energy security has been gaining an increased significance, becoming an important subject on the agenda of the European Union, G8, UN institutions and of the transatlantic dialogue.
As a result, the most prominent topics of the international agenda now include mitigating challenges of the global warming and climate change, increasing energy efficiency, developing renewable resources, diversifying the sources of supply and transport routes together with an increase in the transport security. Furthermore, the awareness of the energy security issue has increased following the volatility of the oil market and a doubling of the price of crude oil barrel in less than one year, the growing demand and increased dependence on imports, as well as the political instability in some of the producing regions.

Indeed, this issue has stepped into a new era, where a regional and global approach and a coordinated relationship between suppliers, transit countries and final consumers are a must.
The Challenge of Energy Security for the European Union The European Union approaches the energy issue through its twofolded dimension: the Internal Market and the external perspective. According to the European Commission, the starting point of any European energy security policy has to be energy demand management.
With its half billion individual consumers, the EU is the second largest consumer in the world. That is why, when talking about energy security, ensuring reliable, affordable, competitive and sustainable flows of energy is essential. The EU governments aim at limiting the energy consumption through measures of energy efficiency and at achieving sustainable production of energy through the promotion of renewable energy solutions.
At the same time, these measures contribute at the same time to reaching the goals of the Lisbon Strategy, which aims at strengthening the EU competitiveness at the international level.

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