ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we review the interaction between energy policy and environmental policy at the EU level. The aim is to consider both how conflicting objectives have emerged in EU policy in these areas and how they have been resolved. The paper does so by considering the extent to which broader objectives (such as protection of the environment and the promotion of competition) have been integrated into sectoral policies (such as energy) and identitying unresolved issues and potential sources of conflict. In effect, the traditional pattern of energy policy-making with its emphasis on supply security has been increasingly challenged by environmental and competition concerns, in the process giving a much more 'regulatory' focus to the process of policy-making. Indeed the influence of the EU is greatest where these regulatory mechanisms are to the fore. Yet these different regulatory processes and priorities may be in conflict this raises the problem of how multiple regulation operates in practice — can the formulation of an EU energy policy provide a means of reconciliation?
