Nabucco Swept Away by South Stream: Was the Securitization of the Russian Pipeline Successful?

Abstract

This article aims to determine if the European Commission was successful
in the securitization of the Russian South Stream pipeline. The Commission
tried to convince the participating Member States to abandon the South
Stream project in favor of the competing Nabucco pipeline. The discursive
analysis showed that all the participating countries accepted the security of
supplies as a referent object. Nevertheless, they did not accept certain
measures advocated by the Commission, i.e. a supranational approach to
energy security and amendments of the intergovernmental agreements
concluded with Russia. Instead, the participating Member States were using
their alternative discourses in order to resist this securitization. The
European Commission was able to stop the South Stream project only
through a direct, non-discursive intervention against Bulgaria, which, after
the start of the infringement procedure, suspended its participation in the
project. The other participating countries accepted this intervention, yet
they did not support it.