Poland as a Policy Entrepreneur in European External Energy Policy: Towards Greater Energy Solidarity vis-à-vis Russia?

Abstract

This article draws on concepts from public policy analysis and the literature on EU member state influence to examine Poland's efforts to project its preferences onto European external energy policy. It argues that Poland's attempts to ‘upload’ its preferences are motivated by a perceived ‘misfit’ between European external energy policy and Warsaw's broader geopolitical priorities concerning Russia. The main aim of the article is to assess the impact of Poland's entrepreneurial efforts on the EU level and to review the relevance of several factors contributing to their success or failure. For this purpose, the article provides an in-depth, empirically rich case study focusing on Warsaw's call for ‘energy solidarity’ in the context of its ‘Energy NATO’ initiative in 2006 and the reform treaty negotiations in 2007. It concludes that Warsaw's ‘uploading’ efforts have faced very considerable constraints, but nevertheless succeeded at placing the notion of ‘energy solidarity’ onto the EU agenda.