On February 16th 2012 a roundtable organized by the IIPS in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland will be held in Ostrava. The event will deal with the topic of "The Future of Druzhba Oil Pipeline - Strategic Challenge for Poland and the Czech Republic". The results of the one year project elaborated within the Czech-Polish Forum in cooperation with the Centre for Eastern Studies will be presented. The aim of the event is to analyze real importance of the Druzhba pipeline, analyze Russian proclamations concerning limiting or interrupting its operation, find out which threats result from putting the pipeline out of operation and how high the risk of realization is. On the basis of the analysis the points of contact of Poland and the Czech Republic within the oil industry and outline the perspectives of cooperation will be identified.

On 24th January 2012 there was a presentation of a study about the future of unconventional gas resources in Poland and its implications on the region of central Europe held by the members of Energy section of the IIPS at the Czernin Palace in Prague. The study was realized on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. Its main goal was to describe the state of a natural gas market in Poland with regard to the potential of unconventional gas resources and introduce possible scenarios of future gas-supply of the region of central Europe. The presentation was attended by about 30 invited guests from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, environment, industry and trade, members of local municipalities, NGO´s and energy security experts and journalists. The study was presented by three members of the creative team: Mgr. Filip Černoch, Ph.D., Mgr. Petr Ocelík a Mgr. Jan Osička.

The final issue of the Czech Journal of Political Science in 2011 features the text published by the Energy section members Tomáš Vlček and Břetislav Dančák entitled "Limits of effective naval blockade in international politics." The text analyzes the issue of peaceful naval blockade,which is very frequently used in international relations although has no legal basis. The text illustrates limits of peaceful naval blocade on several specific examples.

The Energy Security Section is glad to inform you that a new study is now available. The study outlines possible impact of new gas infrastructure projects on the gas flows in the Central Europe. The study is opened with SWOT analyses of the Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovakian gas sectors. Its key parts then focus on the Nord Stream, South Stream and Nabucco gas pipelines, on the system of interconnectors within the North-South Gas Corridor and on the two LNG terminals in Poland and Croatia. The text is further supplemented by the European Union dimension which profoundly influences the Member States' energy development.

Tomáš Vlček, a member of the Energy Security Section of the IIPS, attended an international workshop on the topic "Where is the energetic future of Central and Eastern Europe?". The workshop took place on 16-17 December 2011 in Beladice in the Slovak Republic and was organized by the European Agency for Energy Security (EAFES) and with support of the Centre for European Studies.

On December 9, members of the Energy Security Section of the IIPS, Petr Ocelík and Jan Osička, attended a conference "Energy relations between the EU and Russia: partnership or rivalry?" organized by Metropolitan University Prague. In their conference contributions, they focused on the significance of the unconventional sources of the natural gas development in Europe (esp. in Poland) for the functioning of the gas markets and relations between the Central European countries and the Russian Federation.

Czech Society for European and Comparative Law, Institute of Law and Technology and International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University held the symposium Law and Energy Security. The event took place at the Faculty of Law on November 4th 2011. The first panel moderated by the Head of the Energy Security Section of the IIPS, Filip Černoch, focused on three topics - State and energy sector, Energy mix, Energy policy at the national and European level. The second panel discussed transmission, distribution and trading of the energy. The goal of the event was to foster an interdiscipllinary discussion about this significant, but by the law community rather rather marginilized topic.

On November 23, 2011, Petr Ocelík, member of the Energy Section of the IIPS MU, presented a paper at the conference "Gas sector of he Czech Republic and Slovakia: Topgas 2011" organized by Institute of International Research in Brno. His conference contribution dealt with the topic of interdependence between Russia and the EU. Petr Ocelík also presented the outcomes of the IIPS research project about the impacts of the new and planned transit infrastucture on the region of Central Europe.

Czech Society for European and Comparative Law, Institute of Law and Technology and International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University held the symposium Law and Energy Security. The event took place at the Faculty of Law on Noveber 4th 2011. The goal of the event was to foster an interdiscipllinary discussion about this significant, but by the law community rather rather marginilized topic.

International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung held the trilateral conference "Common Borders, Common Matters" on nuclear energy development in Central Europe.
The event took place on 20th October 2011 in the Czernin Palace in Prague.

The conference focused on nuclear energy, electricity sector and industry development in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland and the impact on foreign relations and mutual cooperation in the region. The aim of the event was to provide relevant data as well as experts' views and instigate the debate about these important issues.



CONFERENCE CONCLUSIONS

PRESENTATIONS of the panelists are available here.

Energy section of the IIPS MU is conducting a project "Unconventional natural gas in Eastern and Central Europe". The aim of the project is to analyze potential, circumstancies, and consequences of unconventional natural gas production in the region. Special attention is paid to Poland as a crucial actor for the Czech Republic in the given context and as a country with relatively highest potential for unconventional natural gas production in Europe. The final outcome of the research will provide various potential scenarios of the future development concerning unconventional natural gas production in the region. Finally, possible consequences and concrete recommendations will be formulated for the Czech Republic.

Petr Ocelík, analyst from the Energy Section of the IIPS MU, presented a paper at the 11th Energy Congress of the Czech Republic on Thursday, 31st March. The congress was organized by the Business Forum. Petr Ocelík's paper dealt with non-conventional sources of natural gas, the impacts of the "silent revolution" in the United States on the regional natural gas markets as well as with possible economic and political impacts of the development of non-conventional resources in Europe. The programme is available here.

The projection of the movie "Fourth revolution - energy idependence" took place in Brno on the 28th of March, 2011. The document by Carl A. Fechner quotes German politician and scientist Hermann Scheer. He thinks that we have approximately thirty years to fully switch to the renewable sources of energy. The movie features renowned experts, businessmen as well as ecological activists and predicts a revolution within coming decades. This revolution should consist of the shift from nuclear and coal plants to individualized solutions provided by the alternative renewable resources. The panel debate that followed the projection was attended by Filip Černoch, Director of the Energy Section, together with representatives from Rainbow Movement, Green Party, and the Eurosolar company.

On January 25, 2011, the Working Group on V4 Energy Security convened at PSSI to debate the objectives and possibilities of regional energy cooperation of the V4 countries. The group is part of a larger initiative called the "V4 Think Tank Platform" with the ambition of becoming a new and efficient instrument enhancing cooperation within the Visegrad Group. The working group consists of governmental, corporate and NGO experts from the Visegrad countries. The project is sponsored by the Visegrad Fund and the first meeting of the working group in Prague was organized and coordinated by PSSI, SFPA, CEUENS and the OSW.

Overall outline of conclusions from particular discussions organized throughout the year 2010 by Ekonom weekly, Institute for Public Discussion and International Institute of Political Science of Masaryk University is now available online. The discussions dealt with coal reserves, construction of new gas pipelines, renewable sources of energy, and other current topics. We believe that the opinions of experts included in the summaries of particular sessions will be beneficial to you. Final report is available here.