Conflicting EU Energy Solidarity: Russia's Power Over Germany and Poland

German Chancellor Schmidt stated to President Carter in 1980 that economic trade prevents countries from shooting each other. This approach to relations with the Soviet Union and later Russia would see a massive pipeline network built to Europe. For neighboring Poland, the Soviet satellite country would hold a different perspective on energy relations. Once both countries were members of the European Union, their diverging perspectives on energy security and security of supply played out within the institutions of the EU and its Single Energy Market (SEM). The EU attempted to bridge these differences through regulatory efforts at ‘energy solidarity’. However, different perspectives held firm until Russia’s war against Ukraine in 2022. This paper utilizes a conceptual framing based on Balmaceda’s (2021) energy chains acting to enable cooperation or as constraints. Russia either enabled the power to secure and ensure stable operations of the energy systems or used power over others to enforce geopolitical alignment. The premise is the value chains in energy - running along the physical supply chains – enable and constrain power relations. In 2022, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there is clarity in the weaponization of gas supply and the power relations in the value chain.