The European Green Deal: Integration through Procedural Supranationalism

Only 11 days in office, the new President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, outlined details about a European Green Deal (EGD). This initiative is the cornerstone of her presidency, shaping most areas of Commission activity through an ambitious agenda of legislative acts and strategies. It promotes more sustainable policies by mainstreaming climate in a variety of fields, setting ambitious climate targets and upscaling green finance schemes. Depth and scope of this supranational entrepreneurship are somewhat surprising. Political, economic, financial and economic crises in the EU have vividly demonstrated the limits of supranational integration and heralded a resurgence of intergovernmental policy-making. Despite these rather unfavorable circumstances, the areas of energy and climate have seen supranational policy initiatives of unprecedented scope. How was this possible against all trends of integration? In this research, I argue that the European Green Deal illustrates a new development in European integration that could be conceptualized as procedural supranationalism. Seeking to cope with crises whilst acknowledging intergovernmental deadlock in the EU, the Commission pursues a procedural rather than legal expansion of competences to gain new governing authority. Three elements underpin this approach. Firstly, the Commission’s claim for governance leadership is expressed in a politicization of the supranational policy agenda. Secondly, Commission activities gain in relevance through linking policy areas already under supranational competence. Finally, the new initiative gains legitimacy through a climate framing that links the legislative agenda to popular demands for climate action as well as existing interests. Taken together, the Commission’s new supranationalism is an approach that accommodates the constraints set by intergovernmental policy-making in the post-Maastricht era and could thereby become a role-model for European integration in the 21st century.