An Energy Union by Policy Surveillance?

Abstract

Facing the urgent need to address climate change by implementing the Paris Agreement while also addressing core conflicts over energy security and solidarity versus de-carbonization, most would agree that European climate and energy governance will require advanced steering at the European level and coordination among Member States. But it is also clear that in the area of energy policy the willingness to share competences and allowing European actors greater influence over national energy mixes is receding. Turing to the proposed ‘Energy Union’, the governance response of the Commission involves relying increasingly on policy surveillance with the use of monitoring. By asking Member States to produce “Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans” (INECPs) every ten years, the Commission aims to steer towards the 2030 climate and energy targets in a ‘soft’ way without ‘hard’ legal policy targets and sanctions. The papers in this panel will consider key past experiences with soft governance – such as the open method of coordination, climate policy monitoring in the UNFCCC or the OECD methods – in order to interrogate to what extent coordination by policy surveillance can provide fertile ground for continuing European integration vis-à-vis the Energy Union in a policy area without exclusive European competence.