L. Fituni, I. Abramova Resource Potential of Africa and Russia's ...

Africa are much wider than the priorities of the European Union
which makes no secret of prioritizing the questions of raw material
and energy cooperation.
Regularly regretting the absence of a unified energy policy of
the member countries, the EU is very consistently and rigorously
shaping its own external resources strategy where Africa features
prominently. The strategy's fundamental documents covering its
principal areas, like The Green Book – the central strategy document
in this area – recognize that, despite the active territorial expansion
in recent decades, the main energy sources for meeting the European
Union's demand (50 percent in 2006 and 70 percent in the next 20 to
30 years) continue to stay outside the European Union. 20 The strategy
emphasizes the dependence on three countries – Norway, Russia
and Algeria – and says that energy security is its prime objective.
The documents and practical activities aim at reducing the reliance
on energy supplies from the above countries. Thus, the officially
approved strategy aims at minimizing the role of the traditional
partners instead of stressing wider cooperation and integration.
This fact points to the thinly disguised opposition from the EU
to Russia which is trying to expand its cooperation with African
countries in the area of raw materials. For example, despite all the
public denials, diplomatic “eyes-widening” and “shouldershrugging”
the EU on the practical level opposes the energy projects
between Russia and Algeria, Russia and Nigeria, and tries to block
Russia's participation in the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline project.
Moreover, the corner stone of the EU’s economic cooperation policy
with Algeria is the view that this Arab country is an alternative
source of natural gas as far as Russia goes. This is mentioned in
plain terms in the Brussels strategy papers. 21 In 2006– 2008, Algeria
and the EU exchanged a series of visits by high– profile delegations
culminating in agreement on a strategic energy partnership and
"convergence of the energy systems."
In July 2007, the European Commission decided to lift restrictions
on reselling Algerian gas in the markets of EU countries and
voiced readiness to participate in the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline
project to carry Nigerian gas to Algeria. In 2007 again, Berlin hosted
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