IENE’s 5th Energy and Geopolitics Forum, which took place on March 21, 2023, at the Divani Caravel Hotel, in Athens, highlighted the various challenges and upheaval brought about by the war in Ukraine in the energy sector, as far as their impact on geopolitics is concerned. Some of Greece’s most distinguished professionals in the fields of energy, international relations and geopolitics as well as politicians and academics, were among the speakers of this important IENE event
The 5th Energy and Geopolitics Forum was opened by the Institute’s Chairman, Mr. Costis Stambolis, who underlined the re-emergence, owing to the war in Ukraine, of energy security as a critical dimension of energy policy. As he stressed, political leaders throughout the West, had tended, until now, to systematically hide the significance of energy security from their peoples, partly because to their own adherence to a different agenda.
At the first session, on the new energy landscape in Europe and the way it affects energy security, society, economy and geopolitics, the former Minister of Environment and Energy, and professor at the University of Piraeus, Mr. Yannis Maniatis, emphasized that the energy transition in the EU was convened in a hasty manner, while he noted that after the war in Ukraine, the world that is emerging, if not a multipolar, is certainly a polycentric one – an observation with which the speakers that followed agreed.
National Security Adviser to Greece’s Prime Minister, Dr. Thanos Dokos, analyzed the challenges entailed for Greece by the new divisions arising after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Dr. Michalis Thomadakis, Director of Strategy and Development Division at DESFA (Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator) SA stated, for his part, that the company is currently evaluating the data shaping the natural gas market after the outbreak of the war as well as Europe's shift to liquefied gas natural gas, in order to be able to plan more effectively the increase of capacity of the network and to prevent the risk of stranded investments in the future.
During the next session, Ambassador at Large, Mr. Michael B. Christidis Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee Balkans & Black Sea Forum, analyzed at length the developments that preceded the armed conflict in Ukraine, the balance between the EU and the US in the field of international relations, but also issues concerning Greek national interests, while the Professor of Geopolitics Kostas Grivas, Director of the Department of War Theory & Analysis at the Hellenic Military Academy, stressed that a new field of confrontation is formed, now expanding in a planetary level, and also described the implications for Greece’s geopolitical environment.
The subject of the third session was "The World After the War in Ukraine: West vs. Rest of the World?". Dr. Costas Filis, Director of the Institute of Global Affairs (IGA) and Associate Professor at the American College of Greece, highlighted the issues and difficulties arising for the international position of the EU in the new geopolitical environment.
The last session of the 5th Energy and Geopolitics Forum highlighted the geopolitical challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean. Dr. Konstantinos Nikolaou, Vice President of Energean in Greece and Member of IENE,’s BoD, referred to the legal as well as illegal research of hydrocarbons in the EEZ of the Republic of Cyprus, highlighting Turkey's methods and goals in this field, which violate International Law and test legitimate international practice, whereas Ms. Vasiliki Stamatopoulou, Corporate Development & Strategy Director of DEPA International Projects, analyzed the company's strategy concerning its partnerships in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The sponsors of the 5th Energy and Geopolitics Forum included KG Law Firm, Energean and DEPA International Projects, while energy portal Energia.gr was the event’s communication sponsor.
