For Europe, energy security has always been a trade-off: Cheap, imported energy comes with the risk of dependency on the countries from which it originates. Europe had an especially mild winter while governments and citizens made a concerted effort to use less gas. Despite these efforts, officials and analysts are fearful that however impressive these advancements have been, Europe’s energy is far from secure in the long term. And when it comes to energy security, dependency ultimately brings us back to that classic trade-off: economics versus risk. China is not the only threat when it comes to energy security in Europe.

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