Shortsighted policymaking in the EU: a close look at EU climate and energy policy

While long-term issues such as climate change require long-term policymaking, policymakers often bias the short-term over the long-term, leading to inadequate policy responses. However, the EU has in the past shown some degree of long-term policymaking by formulating relatively ambitious climate legislation, and by acting as an international climate leader. This seems to suggest that the EU’s decision-making structure contains elements that enable policymaking beyond the short-term. As the EU’s shortsightedness remains understudied, this paper explores shortsightedness mechanisms in EU climate policymaking. To do so, it examines the decision-making of the European Commission, European Parliament, and Council of the EU concerning climate legislation in two time periods: (1) the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework and accompanying 2014 and 2019 Car Regulation; and (2) the Fit for 55 Package and revised 2019 Car Regulation of the EGD. Relying on a combination of secondary literature and interviews with EU officials, the paper finds that while elements of the EU decision-making structure can insulate it from shortsightedness pressures, overall, similar dynamics of shortsightedness as on the national level, are present on the European level. The context in which legislation is discussed seems to be crucial for determining the legislation’s level of shortsightedness.