The governance of the European Energy Union: Efficiency, effectiveness and acceptance of the Winter Package 2016

Abstract

The new governance mechanisms of the European energy policy proposed by the European Commission in its "Winter Package" will redefine European energy and climate governance. This contribution reviews the proposal, its supporting documents and overall stakeholder positions according to the criteria of the efficiency, effectiveness and acceptance of governance to assess its ability to support European energy and climate goals. We find that the proposed governance amounts to a densely meshed coordination of policies between the European level and Member States. Compared to the present governance system, the enhanced mechanism can draw on significant synergies and reduce administrative costs. Our review of stakeholder positions reveals strong acceptance of enhanced coordination. Nonetheless, our review identifies some potential flaws in terms of governance effectiveness. The proposed structures surpass the method of open coordination; they could also be seen as a case of "harder" soft governance in conflict with article 194(2) TFEU. Finally, the local level is excluded.