Fueling Cooperation for Resilience: Minilateral Formats in Europe’s Regional Response to the 2021–2023 Gas Crisis

This is an in-person event.

Monday, 26 May 2025 from 11.00 until 12.30.

In autumn 2021, Europe faced an unprecedented energy crisis tied to natural gas supply and pricing, prompting urgent measures to secure energy needs. Given the limited effectiveness of multilateral organizations and bilateral agreements, states began exploring new forms of cooperation. Research highlights the growing relevance of minilateral formats, especially in Europe, where such initiatives emerge primarily within regional frameworks.

This project aims to assess how effective minilateral formats were in addressing the crisis from 2021 to 2023 by examining three European groupings: the Benelux Union, the Visegrad Group (V4), and Nordic Cooperation (NC). These groups differ in geography, politics, economics, and institutional history. Using an interdisciplinary and case-study approach, the project will analyze political actions, initiatives, mechanisms, and challenges within each group (including extended formats: Benelux+, V4+, NC+). The goal is to evaluate their role in enhancing gas security and state resilience.

keywords: Regional cooperation; gas crisis, the Benelux Union, the Visegrad Group, energy security

Speaker:

Karolina Gawron-Tabor earned her PhD in Political Science from  Nicolaus Copernicus University (NCU) in Toruń, Poland, with a  specialization in regional cooperation in Central Europe. She  currently holds the position of Assistant Professor in the Faculty of  Political Science and Security Studies, within the Institute of  Security Sciences at NCU. She held visiting scholar positions at the  Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington  University and the Jackson School of Global Affairs at Yale  University. Recently, she led the “Interdisciplinary Group for  Minilateralism in Central and Eastern Europe (IGM CEE)” from 2021 to  2023 and served as a member of the “Centre for Global & Multi-level  Governance” at NCU. Her academic interests focus on energy cooperation  among Central European countries, as well as the energy security of  the region.

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