An online expert debate entitled “The Mediterranean Crisis. Gas and geopolitics”, organized by the Warsaw Institute and The Warsaw Institute Review, took place on Tuesday, October 6. The subject of the meeting was the dynamically developing situation related to the actions undertaken by Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean. Jan Wójcik’s article “Turkey: In Search of Energy to Fulfil Geopolitical Ambitions,” which appeared in the latest issue of The Warsaw Institute Review quarterly, was the starting point of the discussion. We kindly invite you to watch the recording of this event.
The participants of the debate included:
– prof. Tomasz Grzegorz Grosse – lecturer at the Department of European Union Policies at the University of Warsaw. Expert of the Warsaw Institute, specialist in economic policies as well as Europeanization and theoretical thought of European integration.
– Jakub Wiech – journalist, lawyer, commentator. Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Energetyka24.com website. In his work he deals with the matters of energy and information security.
– Jan Wójcik – member of the European Issues Institute board, expert on political Islam and terrorism. Graduate of doctoral studies at Collegium Civitas at the Faculty of International Relations. Author of numerous press publications, media commentator.
The discussion was moderated by Izabela Wojtyczka – Editor-in-Chief of The Warsaw Institute Review.
Throughout the debate the genesis, current developments and perspectives of the energy conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean in addition to the layers through which this crisis should be viewed were outlined. The analysis of the “faits accomplis” used by Turkey was set in the context of the natural gas disputes with Greece and Cyprus as well as the involvement of Med7 and Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum. Furthermore, the decreasing role of Gazprom in the European arena was discussed along with the potential of the countries of the southern part of the Old Continent to challenge the dominance of Russia over the supply of energy resources. The conversation focused on the prospects of the involvement of the United States – a key player in the energy market and Turkey’s strategic ally – in the conflict in the Mediterranean. Towards the end of the debate, the experts presented the issue of the European Union’s insignificant causative power in resolving the conflict, stressing the importance of Brexit – the United Kingdom led the lobbying for Turkish membership.
We invite you to watch full video from our online debate!
