ABSTRACT
For several reasons, Spain is a special case in EU energy governance. First, the low level of interconnection in terms of gas and other energy sources with other European countries, like France, has led some analysts (Escribano and Steinberg, 2012; Pérez and Vaquer i Fanés, 2008) to consider Spain an “energetic island” in Europe. Second, Spain is the fourth most dependent EU Member State in terms of energy imports, which are much higher than the EU average of 52 percent. Similarly to India, in 2012 Spain imported 76.4 percent of its energy sources, gas and oil purchases accounting for approximately 4 percent of the Spanish GDP (ACIEP, 2013). Third, the domestic energy mix depends heavily on traditional sources like oil and gas.
