While European energy policy has its roots in the 1950s, it was only with the Lisbon Treaty that it was formally recognized in EU primary law. For decades, it evolved without a specific treaty basis, relying on other policy areas and progressing through integration by stealth. The Lisbon Treaty established an EU energy policy, but new crises soon required urgent responses.

In the chapter 'Energy Policy: Integration by Stealth and Crisis-driven Change' published in a new book, EU Regulatory Responses to Crises: Adaptation or Transformation?, edited by Diane Fromage, Adrienne Héritier and Paul Weismann,  Sandra Eckert and Ole Windahl Pedersen bring perspectives from political science and law together to adress EU energy policy in times of crises. They examine the institutional structure and rule-making in energy policy, especially post-Lisbon, questioning whether recent developments reflect path dependency or transformative change.

In their joint contribution, Sandra Eckert and Ole Windahl Pedersen find that energy policymaking post-Lisbon still remains heavily dependent on Member State consent, cross-border cooperation between national bodies and substantial input by private actors, while there are also notable shifts — like rebalanced goals during emergencies and the use of geoeconomic tools diverging from traditional market logic.

About the book chapter 

'Energy Policy: Integration by Stealth and Crisis-driven Change' in: EU Regulatory Responses to Crises: Adaptation or Transformation?, by Diane Fromage, Adrienne Héritier and Paul Weismann (eds), Oxford University Press:

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/eu-regulatory-responses-to-crises-9780198913818

Contact 

Sandra Eckert, 2019-2022 AIAS COFUND Fellow
Professor, Institute of Political Science,
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Germany
E-mail: sandra.eckert@fau.de

Ole Windahl Pedersen, AIAS Associate Fellow
Professor, Department of Law,
Aarhus University, Denmark
E-mail: owp@law.au.dk