The gas-pipeline deal planned between the Soviet Union and several Western European countries has met with objections from the US government, which fears that Western Europe could be politically blackmailed as a result of its increasing dependence on energy supplies from the USSR. Are these...

The uprising and military confrontation in Libya that began in February 2011 has led to a disruption of the country’s gas exports to Europe. An analysis of how Europe has compensated for these missing gas volumes shows that the disruption has not affected security of supply. However, this...

While macroprudential policy has mostly focused on the role of banks, we argue that pension funds are also important for financial stability. Drawing on previous research on pension funds, we explain how their actions can have a vital impact on other financial institutions as well as on...

The high level of reliance on external energy supplies, mainly from Russia, is considered a major risk to the energy security in Southeast Europe. This dependency is being addressed by the European Union’s new contractual and institutional framework. The construction of new gas pipelines and...

The financial clout of the world's sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) is massive, and many of these are controlled by authoritarian regimes. It cannot be ruled out that these funds might acquire shareholdings in banks that play key roles in other countries. This paper studies the extent to which SWFs...