Horizontal energy governance in the European Union

Abstract

This thesis examines how the European Union moderates between different priorities of energy policy, commonly conceptualised as the energy trilemma, which consists of the three interdependent objectives of sustainability, security, and affordability/competitiveness. It focuses on how the EU approaches the challenge of ensuring coherence and synergies between the dimensions of the trilemma via the governance instruments contained in Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action. This thesis argues that the Energy Union, a flagship project of the Commission led by Jean-Claude Juncker, was the most explicit attempt by the European Union to date to meaningfully engage with the trade-offs and synergies of the energy trilemma at EU level. The Energy Union's legal foundation for such 'horizontal' trilemma governance is Regulation 2018/1999. This regulation and its ambition to create trilemma coherence remain crucial despite the recent legislative changes introduced as part of the European Green Deal and REPowerEU policies, and indeed have grown more critical because later energy legislation relies on the Energy Union governance mechanism, not just to reach the EU's increased energy and climate targets, but also to efficiently align the dimensions of the energy trilemma at Union level. This thesis builds on new governance theory to identify and evaluate the use by the European Commission of the horizontal energy governance instruments put at its disposal by the Governance Regulation. It finds that the governance tools for horizontal energy trilemma governance are not used consistently or to their full potential by the European Commission and suggests ways in which these secondary law provisions could be better leveraged. Finally, this thesis argues that the primary law principle of energy solidarity has the potential of leading to greater coherence across the dimensions of the energy trilemma if leveraged through litigation or the processes anchored in the Governance Regulation.