ABSTRACT

Energy policy in the European Community has been characterised by a struggle between the Commission, on the one side, and the member states and their industries, on the other. Over the years, the Commission has proposed a number of schemes to create a common energy policy, but without success. While governments and national firms have often differed on the details of national policies in this area, they have sought to maintain their autonomy and have been opposed to any transfer of responsibility to international authorities, not least to the Community itself. Increasingly, however, a Community dimension has emerged, on the basis of a mixture of promotional and regulatory activities, with the latter in particular providing the Commission with an important bargaining chip. Thus, while the Commission has been constrained by the reluctance of member states to pool sovereignty in a common energy policy, it has been able to act as a constraint upon governments and firms, not least because of the autonomy it enjoys on the basis of initiating policy, and the extent to which it had been able to exploit its role in broader areas of policy, such as competition and environment. This chapter explores the changing dynamics of the energy policy debate at the national and international as well as the European levels. However, before examining this process, it is necessary first of all to examine the question of energy policy: what are its aims? And how has it traditionally been organised?