[consumer451]

If we are to take our natural place as the inventors and leaders of "The West," you know... democracy and all that boring stuff... wouldn't it be nice to have a source that is within reach, until we ween ourselves off of fossil fuels?

Another answer: with sanctions on Russian oil, and hopefully finally waking up to the fact that we cannot rely on any traditional foreign partners... yes.

Look at what China has done. They know they have no reliable sources and delivery routes for liquid fossil fuels. So, they took the reigns of their own destiny and created PV and battery production on a scale that changed the world.

Meanwhile, we in the EU, let Northvolt go under, and we closed down domestic PV production... like babes in the woods. (children wandering the the forest full of wolves)

Letting Northvolt shut down was one of the dumbest strategic things in modern European history, and that is saying a lot. I still have hope that it can somehow be resurrected.

[inglor_cz]

"We" implies that the entire EU would have to be ready to support an expensive project. Surely Scotland cannot do it alone.

The question is whether this makes sense when Norway produces cheaper hydrocarbons just next door. The production sites there are every bit as vulnerable to Russian attacks as those next to Scotland.

[consumer451]

I am curious, what do you think of the concept of European Federalism, to some extent?

It seems completely impossible, and yet somewhat inevitable. As I write this, I am sitting just a 30 minute drive into Silesia from the CZ border. In my car I receive PL, CZ, and DE radio stations.

The first I heard of the concept of a Federalized EU, it was from very excited international younger folks in Prague.

[inglor_cz]

Federations are tricky to keep together. I witnessed the unraveling of Czechoslovakia as a teen and I was happy that it didn't end up in bloodshed, unlike Yugoslavia. There, guys of my age were spending their early youth killing other guys of my age speaking a mutually comprehensible language.

Don't push it, let it come naturally, if it does. Both CS and YU were built in a top-down fashion, without explicit consent of the nations involved, and this proved fatal eventually. Don't repeat the same mistake again.

[consumer451]

This is an excellent answer. Thank you.