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- Title
Decades of EU energy policy: towards politically driven markets.
- Authors
Talus, Kim
- Abstract
Looking back over the last 30 years, the European Union's energy policy has gone through multiple significant changes. The national monopolies have been broken up and markets have been liberalised. However if we focus on the last 10 years, the picture is very different. Trust in the invisible hand of the markets is fading away and governmental control is returning in many areas. Looking at natural gas markets and infrastructure investments, this article illustrates the change in the EU s approach from markets and market mechanisms to increasingly intrusive public sector control. Not only is the public sector deciding what to invest and where, it is now also moving towards deciding which commercial projects should go forward and which should not. Instead of markets being driven by commercial logic, the motivations behind cross-border natural gas projects are often political in nature. This is not in itself uncommon since energy and politics have always been closely connected at global level. However, it conflicts with the EU's policies in this area, which are based on liberal market thinking.
- Subjects
EUROPEAN Union countries; FOREIGN relations of the European Union; ENERGY industries; ENERGY industries &; the environment; RENEWABLE energy sources; INVESTORS; ECONOMIC development
- Publication
Journal of World Energy Law & Business, 2017, Vol 10, Issue 5, p380
- ISSN
1754-9957
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/jwelb/jwx027