Stuck between Climate Change and Competitiveness

Abstract

This article analyses the external competence of the EU in the field of climate change. Whereas this is formally an area of shared competence, the close relation between climate change and competitiveness could be taken to treat it as a de facto exclusive competence. The enormous impact of climate change policies and the far-going economic and energy interdependence of the Member States result in the requirement to no longer deal with climate change as a purely environmental problem. This refers to the fact that the relatively low transport costs of energy mean that distortions of the level playing field affect not only the outermost Member States, but all Member States. The possibility of having an intra-EU mechanism for dealing with the problem of carbon leakage only increases this competitiveness problem. This in turn influences the legal position of the EU vis a vis its Member States, as is evidenced by the differences in the EU’s negotiation positions in the international climate change negotiations.