As EU Energy Ministers gather on 15 December for the Energy Council, Eurelectric warns that there is no energy security without electricity security. Defence-related investment and urgent policy reforms can reinforce Europe’s resilience, accelerate decarbonisation, and protect citizens from mounting hybrid threats.
A new era of energy security
Europe’s energy system has become the second line of defence for civil society, just behind military capability. The crises of recent years – from Russia’s weaponisation of gas supply to cyberattacks and infrastructure sabotage – have exposed a hard truth: if energy systems fail, everything else follows.
Electricity now powers an ever-growing range of essential sectors, enabled by increasingly decentralised clean generation. This shift has made Europe’s electricity infrastructure a prime target for physical and hybrid attacks, as demonstrated in Ukraine.
A call to Energy Ministers
With the Energy Council set to debate security on 15 December, Eurelectric sent a letter to EU Energy Ministers calling for decisive action to put
modernise defences, strengthen preparedness, and accelerate the transition to clean, resilient energy systems.
- Put preparedness first: planning for physical and cyberattacks, running regular crisis-response exercises, and ensuring rapid repair and recovery capabilities across the electricity system. The NATO Summit’s decision to allocate up to 1.5% of GDP to defence-related investments offers a major opportunity to fund this work, as highlighted in Eurelectric’s recent paper.
- Optimise open strategic autonomy: we have learned the lesson with Russian gas overdependence. Europe must create a balanced and resilient supply chain that supports a fast, affordable and secure clean-energy transition.
- Ensure secure supply of electricity: as the European Commission prepares for its revision of the EU’s energy security architecture, Eurelectric calls for holistic system planning, faster permits and investment for new secure infrastructure, and real market incentives for flexibility – all essential to keeping the lights on under any scenario.
At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, member states committed to allocating 1.5% of GDP to defence-related investments. For aligned EU countries, this represents around €250 billion based on 2024 GDP figures. Eurelectric stresses that directing part of this funding toward energy security could transform Europe’s resilience.
Electricity is a security asset
Eurelectric emphasises that clean electricity is not only a climate solution – it is a security imperative. Renewables, electrification and modern grids reduce exposure to external shocks, enhance crisis response, and strengthen Europe’s geopolitical autonomy.
By modernising frameworks, accelerating investment and using defence funding wisely, Europe can build an electricity system capable of defending, absorbing and responding to the challenges of the next decades.
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