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Aiming to protect energy security, the European Union (EU) has sought to persuade third states to accept its energy acquis, relying on a formed strategic narrative. However, the coherency of this strategic narrative, as the prerequisite for being well-received, has not been studied before. Considering the strategic narrative theory and applying the content analysis method, our research has indicated that the EU's narrative consists of five storylines, including geopolitics, the single energy market, and climate change, the last two of which have become increasingly accentuated over time. However, this strategic narrative suffers from two significant incoherencies, which lie between its storylines and also within the storyline. The results of our analyses indicate that both incoherencies originate from the securitisation of energy in the Union. This means that the effectiveness of the narrative formulated has been diminished, which is detrimental even to the EU's climate policy. This could suggest that de-politicisation of energy is required to reinforce the narrative and enable the EU to address the world with one voice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the development of the European Union (EU) as a global actor in the area of climate security. Building on this, it explicitly draws on constructivist concepts such as norm entrepreneurship and epistemic communities. To this end, it adopts the framework of epistemic communities, as developed by Peter Haas, in order to suggest that there is a group of EU officials, EU member states and think-tank activists, who drive the climate security agenda of the EU. Thus, it examines the precise actors involved in this EU epistemic community for climate security. This group promotes a reason for action at the global level, resulting in the attempt to diffuse this norm: climate change has consequences for international security; thus, it requires the development of appropriate policies and capabilities within the EU and globally. This article suggests that the epistemic community on climate security has been effective at diffusing this norm at both levels, albeit with differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]