Conclusion: The Future of EU Energy Policy

Abstract

In this book we have seen that energy policy in the EU has developed from humble beginnings, even though two of the three founding treaties concerned energy. It was only with the advent of the internal market, which also came to include energy, that a policy in this area gradually emerged. The Commission started with an ambitious programme to deregulate the energy sector and dismantle energy monopolies, but only a few of these proposals were eventually adopted. The internal market in energy was slow to materialise. The most controversial directive — electricity transit liberalisation — took six years to negotiate, and then was only adopted in a modified form as a compromise between the wishes of Germany and France. Nonetheless the process of creating an IEM was significant and persistent despite the opposition of some member states and many interest groups.