Foreign Minister Pabriks: Growing EU energy dependency may lead to political dependence [06 May 2006]

On 5 May 2006, at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Latvian Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks presented a lecture on the influence of economic factors on international security, during which he pointed to the growing dependency of the EU member states on energy suppliers which can create the emergence of political dependence.

As the Latvian Foreign Minister noted: "History tells us that economic factors are and have been quite often used to gain political power, therefore the EU countries have to urgently seek to establish a common energy policy." According to the statistics, only eight member states of the European Union import less than 50 per cent of all the necessary energy resources, therefore this issue must be resolved by joint efforts of all the member states. Mr Pabriks noted that Latvia is ready to offer its supplies of natural gas as they currently are not used to full capacity.

The Foreign Minister also noted that recent events in some of EU member states show the need for a common policy onthe migration and integration of minorities to reduce tensions and to gain an easier control over migration flows.

Prior to the lecture, Minister Pabriks met with the Director of the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Jiri Grusa, to discuss future co-operation and opportunities of Latvian diplomats to acquire additional knowledge in the academy.

At the close of the lecture, lecturers and students from the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna raised questions about the co-operation of the Baltic states, their relations with Scandinavian countries and Germany, and the energy problems in the Baltics.

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