ABSTRACT
The increasing need for reform measures to reach the sustainability goals of the EU has led to many different reactions among European countries. The accelerating speed of public protests for sustainable solutions in almost every area of life puts immense pressure on governments to find political solutions. The difference in national goals for a sustainable electricity mix and in the way of implementing EU guidelines leads to problems in implementing reform measures that affect transnational electricity trade. In this literature-based research, we discuss these problems with arguments of political economy. We use different models to describe problems of reform delay, resistance and political losers. The use of these models enables us to differentiate between different incentives for the three countries of the Trinational Metropolitan Region of the Upper Rhine (Germany, France, Switzerland) to participate in a trinational energy market. Normative implications for political reform measures are discussed at the end of the chapter. This chapter will first describe the main characteristics of an expanding and sustainable energy market. It will then focus on the political economy of a transnational and sustainable electricity market, before considering normative implications in a third stage.
