La transition énergétique européenne, changement de ressources, changements d’échelles

The energy transition policy conducted by the European institutions is in line with the previous policies of integration and liberalization of the energy sector initiated in the 1990s. Because it is thought in coherence with these policies, it postulates in principle that this transition policy must take place on a European scale. This article questions this presupposition by analyzing both European energy legislation and the discourse built around it. It compares the constructions and representations of alternative scales for this transition, carried by other actors. This diversity of scales of representation and territorialization of the energy transition opens up a more geopolitical questioning on the modification of the territorial balance of power by this new use of resources, which generates issues of appropriation, access and control.