Energy dependency in the EU in 2014 was 53.4 percent, according to data published by the EU statistical office Eurostat. In other words, the EU must import more than half of the energy it consumes.
Data shows that EU member states were more energy dependent in 2014 than they were in 1990, as the average dependency during that period increased from 44.2 percent to the current 53.4 percent. Since 2004, the dependency rate has consistently exceeded 50 percent.
Energy dependency varies from member state to member state, with half of them relying mainly on imports, while in the other half, the energy dependency rate is below 50 percent. Croatia is in this group, with a dependency rate of 43.8 percent in 2014. Moreover, it reduced its dependency by about seven percent compared to 2013 (47 percent), which could be a good start for the energy policy of the new Minister of Economy Tomislav Panenić.
The least dependent members are Estonia (8.9 percent), Denmark (12.8 percent), Romania (17 percent), Poland (28.6 percent), and the Czech Republic (30.4 percent). On the other hand, the most energy import-dependent are Malta (97.7 percent), Luxembourg (96.6 percent), Cyprus (93.4 percent), Ireland (85.3 percent), and Belgium (80.1 percent).
Among the five EU member states that consume the largest amounts of energy, the least dependent were the United Kingdom (45.5 percent) and France (46.1 percent), compared to Germany (61.4 percent), Spain (72.9 percent), and Italy (75.9 percent).
It should be noted that nine EU member states recorded the lowest energy dependency rates since 1990 in 2014. These are Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, and Romania. The Czech Republic, however, is the only EU member state that recorded a peak in energy dependency in 2014.
