Download full text
(external source)
Citation Suggestion
Please use the following Persistent Identifier (PID) to cite this document:
https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v7i1.1853
Exports for your reference manager
Following, Challenging, or Shaping: Can Third Countries Influence EU Energy Policy?
[journal article]
Abstract Can non-EU member states influence the EU's energy policy? The Europeanization of energy policy in third countries is often described as a one-directional process in which these countries essentially adopt the EU energy acquis. Our article questions this dominant view by exploring whether and how th... view more
Can non-EU member states influence the EU's energy policy? The Europeanization of energy policy in third countries is often described as a one-directional process in which these countries essentially adopt the EU energy acquis. Our article questions this dominant view by exploring whether and how third countries can influence the formulation and implementation of EU energy policy. We argue that relative differences in third country influence depend on their access to relevant venues and actors of EU policy-making as well as their structural power resources. We develop a typology linking these two factors to the outsider, follower, challenger, or shaper roles that third countries assume in EU energy governance. We empirically probe our argument in three case studies representing different models of EU-third country cooperation. Our cases include a group of nine Southeast and East European countries (Energy Community), Switzerland (bilateral arrangements), and Norway (European Economic Area). The analysis shows that it is access and structural power which together define the extent to which third countries are able to influence the formulation of EU energy policy and customize its implementation to their domestic needs. We find that while the Energy Community members are followers in EU energy governance, Switzerland and Norway are shapers. Strikingly, the influence of these two non-EU members may occasionally even surpass that of smaller EU member states. This highlights that third countries are not merely downloading EU energy regulation but sometimes also succeed in uploading their own preferences. Our contribution has implications for the post-Brexit EU–UK energy relations and qualifies claims about EU regulatory hegemony in the wider region.... view less
Keywords
EU; energy industry; energy policy; influenceability; Switzerland; Norway
Classification
Special areas of Departmental Policy
Free Keywords
Brexit; Energy Community; European Economic Area; European Union; Europeanization; Norway; Switzerland; energy policy; influence; third country
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
Page/Pages
p. 152-164
Journal
Politics and Governance, 7 (2019) 1
Issue topic
EU Energy Policy: Towards a Clean Energy Transition?
ISSN
2183-2463
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed