Changes

About one quarter of all the energy used in the EU is natural gas, and many EU countries import nearly all their energy supplies, such as the United Kingdom (45.5%), France (46.1%), Germany (61.4%), Spain (72.9%) and Italy (75.9%).<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7150363/8-04022016-AP-EN.pdf/c92466d9-903e-417c-ad76-4c35678113fd Eurostat newsrelease: Energy Dependency in the EU 2016]</ref> Some of these countries are also heavily reliant on a single source or a single transport route for the majority of their gas.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/world/europe/23iht-pipeline.4.7231553.html The New York Times "Gaxprom plans to re-route controversial European pipeline" 2007]</ref> For the time being, Russia remains Europe’s largest gas supplier, followed by Saudi Arabia and Norway.<ref>[http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Energy_production_and_imports Eurostat: Energy production and imports 2016]</ref> The high level of mutual dependence involving the two sides may be the key for a future settlement: the European Union relies on Gazprom (the only producer and exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Russia) for about a third of its natural gas supply, and Russia earns significant revenue from selling gas to Europe.<ref>[http://www.gazprom.com/ Gazprom official website]</ref> Yet, in 2017 17% of the global population lacks access to electricity.<ref>[https://www.iea.org/topics/energypoverty/ International Energy Agency (IEA): Energy access and Energy poverty]</ref> Energy poverty in Europe is still a relevant issue, as it affects nearly 11% of the EU population. Due to rising energy prices, low income and poor energy efficient homes, particularly prevalent in Central Eastern and Southern Europe (notably Bulgaria<ref>[https://iaee.org/en/publications/newsletterdl.aspx?id=226 International Association for Energy Economics: Energy Poverty: the Bulgarian Case 2014]</ref> and Greece<ref>[http://www.housingeurope.eu/blog-913/energy-poverty-in-greece Housing Europe: Energy Poverty in Greece 2017]</ref>) around 54 million people in Europe cannot afford to adequately heat their homes at an affordable cost.<ref>[https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/news/energy-poverty-may-affect-nearly-11-eu-population European Commission (Energy): Energy may affect nearly 11% of the EU population, 2015]</ref>

However, there are many boundaries to power exchanges in Europe. The european network of transmission system operators for gas (ENTSOG) published the 2017 edition of the ''Ten year network development plan (TYNDP)'', which offers a view on what is needed to achieve Europe's climate objectives by 2030. The package identifies investment needs, proposed '''priority investments''' and stresses the importance of the creation of the '''single European market for gas'''.<ref>[https://www.entsog.eu/mission ENTSOG official website: Mission]</ref> The gas infrastructure limitations, which locally lead to high dependence or an inability to sufficiently diversify supply sources, would also have an impact in terms of '''competition'''. More specifically, the isolation of Finland prevents the country from mitigating a high Russian supply price. Lack of infrastructure also prevent the Baltic States to share the benefit of their access to liquefied natural gas (LNG) with Finland. In Central-Eastern European countries, Russia remains the main gas supplier causing low level of competition. Barriers prevent Greece from sharing its access to LNG with Bulgaria. In Romania, the lack of '''interconnection''' does not allow for Romanian national production to export towards neighbouring countries. Barriers preventing the Iberian Peninsula to fully share the benefits of its access to LNG with France have been identified. The access to LNG in the United Kingdom, France and Belgium cannot benefit countries to the East to their full potential.