Governance for the European Energy Union (2019)

Following the 2014 European Council resolution to grant Member States the greatest possible degree of sovereignty and flexibility as regards energy policy, and pursuant to the Paris Agreement signed by the European Union in 2015, the European Union (EU) has proposed a new type of governance system for the European Energy Union. The key elements of the legislative package presented in November 2016 under the title Clean Energy for All Europeans is the Regulation on Governance No. (EU) 2018/1999 of 11 December 2018, which for the first time provides for shared governance in matters of climate and energy policy throughout the EU. Responsibility for implementing climate policy targets is primarily assigned to the Member States.

With this in mind, the present position paper will first consider the existing governance and coordination mechanisms in EU climate and energy policy. These are the result of political negotiation processes within the complex multilevel system of the EU. A European governance system combining EU-wide climate targets with a European Emissions Trading System (EU-ETS) as a joint instrument would certainly be conducive to achieving the targets. However, the political majorities required for the swift realisation of such a system are currently not at hand. In consequence, this position paper sets out politically feasible options that enable the EU and ambitious Member States wishing to forge ahead with climate protection to make effective use of existing opportunities. The options can be combined as both decentralised and centralised governance instruments, so as to meet the challenges of a multilevel political system.