High fuel prices, the growing concern about global climate change and not least price disputes concerning natural gas supplies from Russia during the years 2005/06 and 2006/07 have highlighted energy policy in European capitals and European Union (EU) decision-making bodies in Brussels. Several political leaders in the EU have called for a common European energy policy – something that national governments have so far resisted in order to preserve their sovereignty over their energy fuel mix, the way in and level at which they choose to tax energy supply and usage, and over their oil and gas stocks (mainly natural gas storage) in order to follow their own energy security, economic and environment/climate change policy targets. Whereas the European Parliament and the European Commission have been calling for a common European energy policy for a long time, powerful national governments have resisted this so far, and even the infamous draft European Constitution does not contain new powers for the EU in this area. But the sentiment in the capitals of Europe has changed and several governments have stressed the need for more common action.
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Notes
- 1.
Jochen Hierl is Senior Economist at the European Investment Bank (EIB). Dr. Peter Palinkas is Senior Administrator in the Secretariat General of the European Parliament (EP). The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the EIB or the EP. This paper was written in mid-2006 and some elements of the introduction may have been overtaken by the latest developments.
- 2.
In 2004, the EU25 spent nearly EUR 200 billion on R&D – EUROSTAT press release STAT/05/156.
- 3.
Sources: For the TWh figures: European Renewable Energy Council – EREC (2007); For the cost figures: own estimates and calculations
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Hierl, J., Palinkas, P. (2009). Energy Technology Policy in Europe. In: Welfens, P., Addison, J. (eds) Innovation, Employment and Growth Policy Issues in the EU and the US. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-00631-9_14
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