The Challenges of energy market reform

what can the Spanish Presidency achieve?

Abstract

The contribution examines the achievement of the three core objectives of European energy policy in the aftermath of the energy crisis of 2022. Energy security, sustainability and competitiveness have been at the root of European energy policy for many decades but progress in achieving them has been mixed. Member states can rely on their rights to choose their own energy mix. The European Union’s initial response to the energy crisis was to invoke a little used Article 122(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) to adopt a series of rapidly enacted emergency legislation to promote solidarity between the 27 member states.

This article questions whether that response has led to an increased centralization of powers for the EU institutions at the expense of national governments? Can the EU institutions now set the policy agenda for the energy transition more efficiently? Are the EU state aid rules likely to be implemented more strictly to ensure a transition away from fossil fuels before 2050 or do national governments remain firmly in the driving seat? In the alternative, are there any emergent trends from the management of the crisis that are likely to be perpetuated in the longer term as Europe seeks to transition as rapidly as possible to a net zero carbon economy?