- The Writer holds聽an MSc in Eurasian Political Economy & Energy聽from King鈥檚 College London and聽also an聽MA in European Studies from Sabanc谋 University.
As one of the largest economies and trading blocks of the world and the fifth largest consumer of global energy, the European Union needs to wisely manage scarce resources. Considering the fact that Europe has an insignificant amount of its own energy resources, the need for a sustainable, efficient and secure energy policy has become even more vital. However, so far the European Union has been unable to create a common energy policy that solves energy problem at all levels.
Professor of Energy Policy at the University of Oxford, Dieter Helm stated that 鈥渢he EU has never had an explicit energy policy in the way that it has, for example, had an agricultural, industrial, or competition policy.鈥�
Having said that, in spite of its secondary position when compared with other important policies such as the common agricultural policy, energy has never been off the European agenda.
Having established that energy resources were a major factor in the Second World War, this trend has continued in the post war era. A European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established with the Paris Treaty in 1951. Later on, the six founding member states of the ECSC signed an agreement in 1957 establishing the European Atomic Energy authority. With the introduction of the very first European treaty, the importance of energy for Europe is evident. With the beginning of the 1973 oil crises, European countries collaboratively started to understand the importance of having a common energy policy and began seeking alternative energy resources.
The Council Resolution of Sept. 17, 1974 was established for a new energy policy strategy for the European community aimed at creating a diversified energy market to meet increasing demand along with finding new ways to improve security of supply. With this resolution, it became apparent that community level energy integration for energy security was needed. Even though this community level cooperation among the European states was projected in the resolution, energy was still perceived as a sole national sector.
Despite the ongoing process of creating a common energy policy, the EU was slow in executing this task until the 1990鈥檚. During these years, the importance of creating common EU energy policies was not realized, which resulted in some fundamental changes to the ways in which Europe handled its energy policy.
As stated by the European Commission (2012), the reason why Europe lacks a genuine energy market is because a 鈥渕arket of 500 million consumers has yet to become a reality as the development of cross-border energy businesses is still being hampered by a raft of national rules.鈥�
In this regard, the constitutive element of a common European energy policy, which would strengthen the EU鈥檚 hand in securing energy supply, was hindered by strong opposition from various national governments.
The EU came a long way towards creating a common energy policy but it still remains fragmented due to member states鈥� divisions in different economic and political interests. However, the creation of an internal energy market to combat climate change while ensuring the security of energy supplies have become a common energy policy that all member states agree on. Additionally, the liberalization of energy markets, as well as improvements to energy grids and infrastructure, have also become a priority within member states to increase competitiveness to reduce the energy bills of ordinary European citizens.
It is only through an integrated and common energy policy pursued by the EU that these challenges can be achieved. The renovation of obsolete energy systems, innovation in energy technology and the generation of energy through renewables requires tremendous financial allocations. Hence, without the European Union鈥檚 cooperation, public funds of respective member states alone cannot be channeled towards achieving these goals.
In this regard, the EU has initiated a number of energy policy strategies namely, 鈥淲hite Paper 1995,鈥� 鈥淕reen Paper 2000,鈥� 鈥淓nergy and Climate goals for 2030,鈥� and 鈥淓nergy Roadmap 2050,鈥� all with the aim of achieving greater coordination and collaboration among member states.
It became evident that competitive, sustainable and secure energy can only be guaranteed through a genuine common European energy policy. Therefore, the solution lies in the hands of member states to pursue a coherent European energy policy.
- Opinions expressed in this piece are the author鈥檚 own and do not necessarily reflect Anadolu Agency's editorial policy.聽