06/10/2015
Jean-Arnold Vinois gave a thoughtful and informative keynote address at CEU on Friday, October 2. The occasion was the official launch of Andreas Goldthau and Nick Sitter’s new book, “A Liberal Actor in a Realist World: The European Union Regulatory State and the Global Policy Economy of Energy” (Oxford University Press, 2015).
Vinois, who is adviser on European energy policy at Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute and honorary director of the European Commission - Directorate General for Energy, introduced the EU as “a naiive actor in a cynical world.” He reminded the audience that France and Germany were close to war in 1950, and that it was only after the proposal to create a European Defence Community was rejected that the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was proposed. “The original purpose of the ECSC was peace, not energy,” he said.
Vinois summarized some of the key milestones of the past 70 years: the 1958 treaty that created a common market based on four fundamental freedoms; the decision to establish a single Council and Commission in 1965; and the gradual enlargement from the original six members to the current membership of 28 states. Vinois acknowledged that the EU had moved slowly in some areas, but went on to note that it had always been especially “respectful of people.” In a world “of big sharks and small fishes,” said Vinois, the EU stands out for its commitment to the rule of law. Another indication of the success of the EU: “we have lived in peace in Europe for 70 years.”
Turning his attention to energy, Vinois noted that it had historically been difficult to convince the European member states to “do anything” on energy. It was not until 2007 and the passage of the “20 20 by 2020” legislation that the member states were able to agree on binding climate and energy targets. Another key development that led to the current Energy Union was the gas supply crisis in 2009. “That was the moment,” said Vinois, “when Europe recognized that energy was a collective issue.”
Looking ahead, Vinois predicted that there would be major changes in the way that energy is provided in the next five years. He pointed to the emergence of new information systems and the impact they would have in enabling citizens to become more energy efficient as just one interesting development that would be worth watching.
After Vinois’ presentation, Goldthau and Sitter shared some of their observations focusing on the EU regulatory state and the global political economy of energy. Goldthau said that the 1990s had been one of the most important decades in “defining the nature of the beast” – a “unipolar moment” that had led to critical reforms and new policies. It was then that the EU started to liberalize its energy sector. He went on to describe some of the “hiccups” since then – tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the rise of new consumers, and the emergence of new players (national oil companies, e.g.). “The obvious challenge is that although the world has changed,” said Goldthau, “the EU has not.” The way the EU has responded is as a regulatory state - by sending regulators not gunboats. Goldthau agreed with Vinois that the EU had been slow and naiive but, he said, “it has been effective too” responding to these challenges with the tools it has at hand.
Sitter noted that it is not necessarily a link between being a regulatory state at home and a regulatory state abroad. “In this case, however, there is.” While acknowledging that for various reasons the EU has not been particularly effective in the areas of climate change and oil, Sitter said that it had been “tough” in the field of gas. The EU has been able to use its regulatory power effectively in this area. In the process it has transitioned from being a liberal actor to a “mostly liberal actor,” said Sitter. He went on to explain that how effective the EU was depended “on the nature of the problem” and also whether it was a regional or global problem. Regulatory tools work better against firms than countries, he said, and when deployed regionally, as opposed to globally. By deploying its regulatory power so effectively in the gas sector, the EU has emerged as an actor in its own right in the global political economy of energy.