The more the merrier? Assessing the impact of enlargement on EU performance in energy and climate change policies

ABSTRACT

This article examines the impact of enlargement on European Union performance in energy and climate change policies. It looks at process-driven performance, focusing on agenda-setting, negotiation dynamics and institutional change – as well as outcome-driven performance, looking at the ambitiousness of policy objectives and their implementation. The empirical analysis is based on qualitative, comparative case studies of EU climate change and energy security policies. The article shows that enlargement has had a nuanced but contrasted impact on the two areas. It also points to the recent assertiveness of Central and Eastern European Countries in both energy security and climate policy.

KEYWORDS:

• Central and Eastern Europe
• climate change
• energy
• enlargement
• European Union
• policy performance

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the editors of this special issue, Dimitris Papadimitriou, Dorina Baltag and Cristian Surubaru, and the journal editor Adam Fagan for their efforts in providing critical comments and encouragement throughout the process of writing this article. In addition, we acknowledge the very useful feedback from the UACES general conference in Bilbao, and from the ECPR Standing Group on the EU, in particular the panel discussants Anke Schmidt-Felzmann and Sebastiaan Princen, as well as Brendan Moore and Matúš Mišík for their comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Pierre Bocquillon is a lecturer in European Politics in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies at the University of East Anglia. His research on European governance and EU energy and climate policies has been published or is forthcoming in journals such as the Journal of European Public Policy and Environmental Policy and Governance.

Tomas Maltby is a lecturer in International Politics in the Department of Political Economy at King’s College London. His research focuses on energy security, renewable energy policy, EU–Russia energy relations and agenda-setting within the EU. He has recently published his work in journals such as Geopolitics, Europe–Asia Studies and Geoforum.

ORCID

Pierre Bocquillon http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7384-4384

Tomas Maltby http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8434-9749

Notes

1 Though scholars such as Zielonka (2004) thought such concerns had been overplayed.

2 See Skjærseth and Wettestad (2007, 266–268) and Burns, Carter, and Worsfold (2012, 55–58).

3 Hereafter, the Commission.

4 Kingdon (2011, 179) defines policy entrepreneurs as “advocates who are willing to invest their resources – time, energy, reputation, money – to promote a position in return for anticipated future gain in the form of material, purposive, or solidary benefits”.

5 “Ambitions” are assessed in view of past commitments or in comparison to other comparable countries or bloc of countries.

6 An additional difficulty is that policy outputs may be less ambitious because they have to cover a wider, more diverse area; but these negative effects can be offset by the fact that the rules and goals apply to more countries that may not have adopted similar commitments otherwise.

7 The group was dissolved following EU accession.

8 As part of the ECCP, the EU also adopted directives on renewable electricity (Directive 2001/77/EC) and biofuels (Directive 2003/30/EC).

9 Including a 20% reduction in GHG emissions (compared to 1990), a 20% increase in renewables share and 20% energy savings by 2020.

10 DG Environment official and a Czech diplomat interviews, 02.12.11 and 21.06.12, Brussels.

11 Interviews with French officials, 30.11.11 and 16.02.12, Brussels.

12 Council official interview, 28.11.11, Brussels.

13 DG Environment official interview, 02.12.11, Brussels.

14 French officials’ interviews, 30.11.11 and 16.02.12, Brussels.

15 Polish environment official interview, 21.06.2012, Brussels.

16 Various interviews with MS representatives.

17 Commission DG Energy official interview, 28.01.13, Brussels. Also Maltby (2013).

18 Permanent Representation interview, 18.01.13, Brussels; and Commission DG Energy official interview, 28.01.13, Brussels.

19 Polish MEP interview, 15.07.10, Brussels

20 Commission DG Energy official interview, 28.07.10, Brussels.

21 Regarding: a solidarity compensation mechanism; Union-wide plans and objectives and the external dimension emphasis (focused on Gazprom).

22 Commission DG Energy official interview, 28.01.13, Brussels.

23 Polish MEP interview, 15.07.10, Brussels.

Additional information

Funding

This research has benefited from the generous funding of the Marie Curie Initial Training Network INCOOP (Institutional Cooperation in the EU).