Canada-Germany-EU
| Published date | 01 September 2008 |
| Date | 01 September 2008 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200806300315 |
| Author | Petra Dolata-Kreutzkamp |
| Subject Matter | Canada-Germany RelationEssays in Honour of Robert Spencer |
Petra Dolata-Kreutzkamp
Canada-Germany-
EU
Energy security and climate change
| International Journal | Summer 2008 | 665 |
During the German EU and G8 presidencies, energy security and climate
change were prominent issues on Berlin’s summit agenda. This was also re-
flected in the thematic emphasis of the Canada-EU high-level meeting in
early June 2007 in Berlin. The concluding joint statement specifically de-
clared “energy and climate security” to be one of the three main areas for fu-
ture cooperation.1No doubt energy security and climate change are topics
that are very much in vogue these days. However, as this article will argue,
there are even larger tectonic shifts at work that will affect German and EU
foreign policy in the long run and thus potentially impinge on future Ger-
many-Canada relations. One irreversible change has been the emergence of
energy security as an integral part of foreign policy. This applies to national
Petra Dolata-Kreutzkamp is assistant professor of North American history at the John F.
Kennedy Institute for North American studies at the Freie Universität Berlin. She is cur-
rently a lecturer at the war studies department at King’s College in London. Her research
includes transatlantic relations, the geopolitics of US energy security policy, and Canada’s
Arctic policy.
1 “2007 Canada-EU summit statement, Berlin,”4 June 2007, www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca.
as well as EU levels. Another development has been the linkage of energy se-
curity and climate change in the German and European discourses. A third
dimension is not so much a change but a strengthening of an existing trend
and that is the German fascination with the Arctic, which has become part
and parcel of the political symbolism of climate change policies.
Despite recognizing energy security and climate change as topics for fu-
ture cooperation, these new developments could cause some serious chal-
lenges to Canada’s relations with Germany and the EU. One particular
problem for Canada could arise from the German strategy of addressing en-
ergy security and climate change issues outside of NATO, one of Canada’s
traditional forums for ongoing transatlantic consultation and dialogue. Con-
troversial oil and gas exploration in the high north may be the harbinger of
an older pattern of conflict over resource management in the north Atlantic
and Arctic, which has pitched Canada and the EU against each other over
products such as fish and sealskin. In addition, in any confrontation between
the various Arctic nations it is not clear whether Germany would side with
Canada,since its priorities are maintaining EU cohesion and securing energy
supplies from Norway and Russia. Thus, while Canada and Germany will
certainly remain partners in global energy security and climate change issues
and within any NATO, UN, or G8 framework, this cooperative trajectory is
not as clearly marked for specific regional spaces such as the Arctic or the
north Atlantic.
GERMANY DISCOVERS ENERGY SECURITY: BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN ENERGY
AND CLIMATE POLICIES
Before assessing the political impact of German and European (re)definitions
of energy security and climate change on Canada and transatlantic relations,
it will be useful to take a closer look at the German debate, which has also in-
formed discussions on the European level. In contrast to many of its Euro-
pean neighbours, in the past energy security played only a secondary role in
foreign policy decision-making in Germany. While in most western countries
foreign and defence ministries have often been involved in formulating en-
ergy policies, in Germany this has been the domain of the economics min-
istry. Historically, West Germany saw energy as simply an economic—not
strategic—good and relied heavily on market-based solutions. From the late
1950s it had been dependent on oil imports, mainly from the Middle East
and later Russia and the commonwealth of independent states, but it argued
that to ensure secure supplies, competitive market conditions needed to be
| 666 | International Journal | Summer 2008 |
| Petra Dolata-Kreutzkamp |
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