European Union Ambitions Research Articles

A jövőbeli erőművi portfólió elemzés költség- és kibocsátás minimum optimalizálás szempontjából

The article examines the expected composition of the power plant portfolio in Hungary by 2030. The indicators considered are the life-cycle unit costs (LCOE) and the life-cycle specific carbon dioxide emissions (LCA(CO2)) of the power plant types. The minimum of these two indicators, as objective functions, is determined by a linear programming method for the power plant portfolio. The results show that the LCOE minimum for the power plant portfolios in 2030 is worse in absolute terms and better in specific terms than in 2021. In both absolute and specific terms, the LCA(CO2) minimum is more favourable in 2021. These results are met under the thirty and twenty-five percent electricity import scenarios. With twenty percent imports, the absolute values are worse and the specific values are better for both indicators. On the other hand, the results of the calculations for 2030 fall short of the 2030 Agenda of the Institute for a Green Transition. This is due to the delay in commissioning a new nuclear power plant and the transformation of industry with increasing electricity demand. For the portfolios under review, a minimum of thirty percent of domestic generation from renewable sources is met. This contributes significantly to the European Union's ambition for the sector to be net greenhouse gas-free by 2050.

EU Engagement in the Arctic: Challenges to Achieving Ambitions in an Area outside Its Jurisdiction

The European Union (EU) has underscored its will to heighten its engagement in the Arctic region. Beyond traditional areas of interest – such as tackling climate change, supporting research and developing cooperations – critical resources and security emerged as new topics in the EU’s most recent policy documents. These have become even more critical since February 2022 following Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine. The Circumpolar North is the subject of many challenges caused by climate change and its fragile biodiversity, which, combined with the region’s importance for scientific research, access to natural resources, tourist activities, and military security, places it in a geopolitically strategic position. By focusing on EU ambitions in the Arctic, this article analyses the EU’s potential to implement policies and set consequential trends in an area of political interest outside its jurisdiction. It concludes that core political priorities and sector-specific regulations that directly guide the behaviour of EU members may have more influence than Arctic policy statements.

Does differentiated integration weaken parliamentary involvement? Evidence from the European Union's interparliamentary conferences

Does differentiated integration undermine the motivation of parliamentarians from less integrated member states to become involved in European Union affairs? Focusing on the European Union's new interparliamentary conferences in economic governance, and justice and home affairs, this study examines whether voluntary and involuntary as well as comprehensive and partial differentiation influence parliamentary involvement, measured as participation in interparliamentary conferences. Based on new data and Coarsened Exact Matching, the results indicate that the effect of differentiation depends on its political origins and design. Only voluntary and comprehensive differentiation depress parliamentary involvement. The results can be seen as favourable regarding the legitimacy of differentiation and compatible with the European Union's ambition to limit the institutional implications of differentiation. They also indicate a targeted parliamentary response to differentiated integration.

Modeling the EU plastic footprint: Exploring data sources and littering potential

Despite plastic being one of the most used materials globally, information about plastic flows in value chains is generally lacking. The present study aims at estimating the European Union (EU) plastic footprint (including production and consumption flows) by combining different approaches, as well as at estimating marine littering potentials. Plastic flow estimates build on a literature review of studies on material flows analysis to gather available data. The review highlights the lack of complete and homogeneous estimates of EU plastic production and consumption, as well as detailed figures for specific sectors (e.g., fishing, healthcare, electrical and electronic equipment). Data retrieved from literature were compared with estimates based on consumption statistics (i.e., PRODCOM database). Estimates for 2014 based on literature equals to 84 kg/person, whilst results derived from PRODCOM for the 2014 equals to 129 kg/person (with an average of 112 kg/person for the period 2010–2019). Packaging contributes to 27.9% of the overall footprint in the case of the literature-based approach (23.6% in the case of PRODCOM results), which is dominated by three polymers (LDPE, PP and PET). Concerning the marine litter potential, beach litter rates -based on EU beach litter observations and plastic statistics- were in the order of 10000 part per million of the consumed plastic.. This study unveiled that methodological improvements in estimates of the EU plastic footprint together with plastic littering potential, as well as further data gathering, are fundamental steps for fulfilling the EU ambitions to assess and reduce the environmental impacts of plastics.

The Future EU-UK Relationship: The EU Ambitions for a Comprehensive Partnership

The purpose of this article is to examine the objectives pursued by the European Union (EU) in crafting its future relationship with the United Kingdom (UK) after Brexit. As the article argues, the withdrawal of the UK from the EU created an unprecedented situation – namely that of a former Member State. In response to this unique state of affairs, the EU has deliberately and consistently endeavoured to develop with the UK as a new third country an ambitious partnership, going beyond trade to encompass many other areas of cooperation, spanning from internal and external security to sectoral themes such as the fight against climate change and health. As the article suggests, the EU’s approach vis-à-vis the UK emerges already in the negotiating guidelines, adopted in the aftermath of the UK notification of its intention to leave the EU; is codified in the non-binding Political Declaration outlining the framework of future EU-UK relations, attached to the Withdrawal Agreement; and is ultimately reflected to some extent in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement reached between the parties on Christmas Eve 2020. Although this thin deal does not fully achieve the objectives of the EU, as some areas are not covered by the new EU-UK treaty, its scope, which goes beyond trade, confirms the ambition of the EU to lock-in relationship with a close, special neighbour like the UK. Brexit, Future Partnership, EU, UK, Negotiation Guidelines, Political Declaration, Trade and Cooperation Agreement

Towards a European Green Deal: The evolution of EU climate and energy policy mixes

A growing scholarship argues that decarbonization cannot be achieved with single instruments like carbon pricing alone. A broader mix of reinforcing policies is required. This literature focuses on how policies can accelerate technological innovation, restrict polluting activities, promote green growth, and ensure social justice. Applying the policy mix literature to the European Union (EU), this article examines the development of climate and energy policies from separate and narrow initiatives to coordinated policy packages to achieve increasingly ambitious climate targets, culminating with the European Green Deal. The starting point to explain this policy development is that EU policies will reflect the positions of the ‘least ambitious’ actors when unanimity is required. Examination of different policy phases shows that EU policy mixes are not only needed to fulfil different transition functions—they also provide opportunities to combine different actor interests to raise climate ambitions. The EU institutions have been instrumental in crafting policy packages that exempt and compensate the least climate-ambitious actors. The Paris Agreement has also provided an enabling context for higher EU ambitions. Looking towards the future, the corona-induced recession has so far mainly been used by the EU as an opportunity to strengthen climate ambitions and the European Green Deal.

The Future EU-UK Relationship: The EU Ambitions for a Comprehensive Partnership

The purpose of this paper is to examine the objectives pursued by the European Union (EU) in crafting its future relationship with the United Kingdom (UK) after Brexit. As the paper argues, the withdrawal of the UK from the EU created an unprecedented situation – namely that of a former member state. In response to this unique state of affairs, the EU has deliberately and consistently endeavored to develop with the UK as a new third country an ambitious partnership, going beyond trade to encompass many other areas of cooperation, spanning from internal and external security to sectoral themes such as the fight against climate change and health. As the paper suggests, the EU’s approach vis-a-vis the UK emerges already in the negotiating guidelines, adopted in the aftermath of the UK notification of its intention to leave the EU; is codified in the non-binding Political Declaration outlining the framework of future EU-UK relations, attached to the Withdrawal Agreement; and is ultimately reflected to a large extent in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement reached between the parties on Christmas’ Eve 2020. Although this deal does not fully achieve the objectives of the EU, as some areas are not covered by the new EU-UK treaty, the wide-ranging partnership confirms the ambition of the EU to lock-in relationship with a close, special neighbor like the UK.

Analysing the potential of citizen-financed community renewable energy to drive Europe's low-carbon energy transition

In 2018, the real amount invested in the European Union's energy transition fell short of the funding level required to reach the 2030 climate and energy targets by €179 billion. Citizen-led finance in renewable energy development emerges as an innovative tool to bridge this investment gap. However, in spite of the European Union's ambition to involve local communities for co-driving the low-carbon energy transition, there is no comprehensive analysis quantifying citizens' potential to co-finance and participate in community renewable energy initiatives across Europe. We address this knowledge gap through a representative choice experiment survey that collected responses from 16,235 participants to different hypothetical investment options on renewable energy schemes across all European Union Member States, and estimate the social potential of European citizens to participate and invest in community-administered wind farms. Results from a novel survey-based social simulation indicate that €176 billion could be obtained from citizen-led finance in community-administered wind farm developments, enough to halve the investment gap to achieve a 32% renewable energy share in final energy consumption by 2030. Our analysis substantiates the case for facilitating easily accessible, risk-insured community investment options across Europe to unlock citizens' social potential for investing in community renewable energy.

In search of a free movement of forensic evidence: Towards minimum standards to determine evidence admissibility?

In coming to a European Forensic Evidence Area, an European Union ambition to be reached by 2020, judicial cooperation in criminal matters should be levelled-up. Grounded on the legal basis provided by the Lisbon Treaty, this research identifies the minimum standards to be developed by looking into the actions taken both from a legal and from a forensic-scientific perspective to standardise the collection, storage and use of forensic expert evidence. In examining the feasibility of such standards, primary sources of legislation, policy documents and case-law on a European level are compared with a comparative study of domestic norms in six jurisdictions. Depending on the phase in the chain of custody and fundamental principle involved, but also on the level of cooperation between the forensic and legal actors, it was noticeable that the comparison led to different conclusions, depending on the refusal grounds provided by the member states and the necessity of intervention at the European level to safeguard the underlying fundamental values.

Passing the Scepter, not the Buck Long Arms in EU Climate Politics

<p>This paper investigates power dynamics between and within the core institutions of the European Union (EU) in the development of the 2030 EU climate & energy framework. Starting from the widely studied change in the EU’s climate policy from “leadership by example” to “slow motion”, it integrates a specific focus on power dynamics between the core EU institutions and non-state actors. Interestingly, perspectives on power relations between and within EU institutions and the power of non-state actors in EU governance are rarely integrated explicitly in analyses of the EU’s shift in its stance on climate policy. In this article, we aim to draw together the analyses of institutional power dynamics in EU climate policy with analyses of the exercise of power by non-state actors to explain the dynamics leading to the change in EU climate politics. Using data from document research, secondary literature and interviews conducted with members of EU institutions as well as non-state actors, we show that an absence of clear leadership from the European Council in the end furthered an extended influence of business actors via the strengthening of the Commission as well as particular DGs. The results show how inadequate guidance from the Council and divisions within the Commission facilitated the informal passing of the scepter of EU climate policy to business, even as EU institutions retained formal responsibility, thus not passing the buck in a corresponding manner. The analysis further reveals strong reasons for doubt towards future EU ambitions in global climate change politics.</p>

The Importance of Setting a Target: The EU Ambition of a High Level of Protection

AbstractThe European Union (EU) aims to ensure a high level of environmental protection. This is a key message of primary EU law. This article explores the purpose and meaning of this explicit ambition. It deciphers its influence on case law and on judicial review of legislative and administrative discretion. It argues that the requirement goes beyond window dressing and that its added value lies both in supporting the legitimacy of bold decisions and in preventing a manifest dismissal of the requisites of environmental protection.Although primarily focused on EU law and on its technicalities, the article may offer helpful insights to other transnational or federal systems. It may help to build a better understanding of some of the challenges facing any environmental law regime confronted with the sensitive issue of ‘ambition’.

Civil security in the EU: national persistence versus EU ambitions?

Noting that European Union (EU) institutions are increasingly engaged in civil protection in the member states, security governance is used as an analytical framework to assess the depth of EU engagement in delivering civil security. It is shown that a state-centric approach is no longer adequate to understand the provision of civil security across Europe. To varying degrees, the EU has acquired responsibilities to facilitate, coordinate, manage, and regulate civil security, whether before or after a civil crisis occurs. The analysis demonstrates that, whilst intergovernmental practices and inter-state cooperation remain salient features of civil security, the responsibilities undertaken by the EU institutions across the entire policy spectrum are more substantial than a strictly intergovernmental perspective would suggest.

The feasibility of a European‐wide integrated CO2 transport network

AbstractThe European Union's ambition to achieve near‐total decarbonization by 2050 suggests a large role for carbon capture and storage (CCS), requiring the transport (mostly by pipeline) of CO2 from source facilities to appropriate sites for geological storage. Here, a network modeling approach is used to test the scale, structure, and estimated costs of an integrated European CO2 transport network for different amounts of CCS deployment. Models are optimized with the sole objective of creating the least cost pipeline network that joins all sources to sufficient storage for a 25‐year period of operation, and assume no restrictions on trans‐boundary transport of CO2, or due to topographical constraints. Results show that extensive CO2 pipeline networks are required to deliver the CCS contribution to decarbonization. Sufficient storage is available but is distributed such that even for low levels of CCS deployment, both offshore storage and trans‐boundary transport of CO2 are needed. Scenarios are run to test pipeline infrastructure requirements should onshore CO2 storage not be permitted, giving an estimated increase in CO2 transport infrastructure cost of 10–30% (€3–7 billion). Scenarios examining the effect of removing the more speculative storage potential in the Baltic, close to central and eastern European CO2 source clusters, reinforce the need to experimentally validate theoretical storage capacity estimates especially in the Baltic and North Sea.

The EEAS's diplomatic dreams and the reality of European and international law

This article confronts the diplomatic ambitions of the European External Action Service (EEAS) with the reality of European Union (EU) and international law. Treaty provisions as well as policy documents and statements of EU officials reveal a development in the direction of a strengthened role for the EU itself as a diplomatic actor. The findings underline a continued tension between the EU's diplomatic ambitions and EU and international law as it stands. In relation to the EU's internal structures, there is no doubt that in the new EU institutional landscape dividing lines remain firmly in place. Yet, the working arrangements do point to ‘holistic’ thinking implying co-operation and reciprocity. Subsequently, the article outlines how the EU's ambitions sit uncomfortably with traditional state-centred international diplomatic law. Extensive diplomatic activity of the EU depends on the willingness of third states to accept the EU as a diplomatic actor.

The EU as an emerging coordinator in development cooperation: perspectives from sub-Saharan Africa

This report presents the proceedings of the field research conducted in the framework of a doctoral research on the European Union (EU) as an emerging coordinator in development cooperation. This research aims to seek in-depth and interpreted understanding of the paradox between the EU's ambitions on the one hand and practice on the ground on the other by investigating the EU's role in four sub-Saharan African countries (Tanzania, Zambia, Burkina Faso and Senegal). As such, it aims to add empirical evidence to the debate on the role of the EU as a development actor. More specifically, it investigates how the ambitions of the EU are translated at country level and in which situations the EU is more/less likely to act as a coordinator, making use of a pragmatist research approach. This approach is especially suited to problem-driven research that aims to understand a complex phenomenon. The article introduces the research question and the rationale, gives an overview of the research approach and the methodological considerations and ends with a summary of the research process and the preliminary findings of the field research.

The EU as a global counter-terrorism actor in the making

After the terror attacks of 11 September 2001, the European Union (EU) staked its claim as an important international player in the fight against global terrorism. The EU encouraged new initiatives at the United Nations and devoted newfound attention to aid and assistance programs to third states. The EU's ambitions and heightened activity prompts a number of questions about rhetoric versus action and offers a useful test case for assessing the quality of the EU's ‘actorness’. This article applies the actorness concept to shed light on the EU's behaviour in global counter-terrorism activities. It draws together existing insights on actorness into an analytical framework containing four sets of variables – context, coherence, capability and consistency – and applies the framework to evidence gathered on the EU's international and third country role in countering terrorism. Our results show that the actorness approach sheds considerable light on the EU's international behaviour in global counter-terrorism and suggests the EU has some way to go before becoming a full actor in this area.

The EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the Court of Justice: The “High Politics” of Indirectly Promoting Global Standards

The European Union (EU) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is a cornerstone of the European Union's policy to combat climate change and its key tool for the cost-effective reduction of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, according to the European Commission, it is the first and biggest international scheme for the trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances, including sophisticated and far-reaching penalties. Notably, however, the scheme arose out of a failure at the international level to agree on global standards. When an amended directive included aviation under this scheme beginning in 2012, it ignited a global controversy that came before the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice in December 2011. In its decision, the Court and Advocate General explicitly explain that the EU ETS regime arose because of the failure of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to evolve a global regulatory scheme. To some, the decision of the Court of Justice on the EU ETS represents a definitive view on the legality of the EU's ambitions to uphold high environmental standards and to compel others to uphold these standards also.

The European Union and China's rise in Africa: Competing visions, external coherence and trilateral cooperation

This study analyses the impact of China's rise in Africa on the European Union (EU). Contrary to conventional wisdom, it argues that the EU's renewed interest in Africa is not the result of China's new assertiveness in the continent, but is a consequence of the EU's ambitions to become an influential global actor and the consequent search for a more coherent external policy. Africa, thus, represented an ideal venue in which different EU actors could simultaneously pursue traditional development goals together with new political objectives. Moreover, the existence of three competing visions within the EU negatively affected its ability to constructively engage with China: the European Commission sought to affirm the EU's aspiration to become an influential global actor; the European Parliament projected its preference for a value-based development policy, blended with paternalistic overtones; the Council of the European Union was driven more by the emotional reactions of some member states, who did not want to lose their position as Africa's main reference point. Unsurprisingly, the result has been a confused message, which China has found hard to follow, never mind Africa, since they were not effectively involved in the process and were sceptical about the whole idea of ‘trilateral cooperation’.

Moving towards a European Defence Industry? The Political Discourse on a Changing Reality and its Implications for the Future of the European Union

Since the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 the European Union has been an increasingly important actor in the field of security and defence. However, the defence industries sector has largely been kept away from Brussels. This has usually been justified by the role that national defence industries have traditionally played as fundamental pillars for the survival of the European nation-states, thus making them reluctant to share this “sovereign tool” with the European Union. Nonetheless, recent steps in both the economic (large number of mergers and acquisitions within the European defence industry sector) and the political (security and defence integration measures within the European Union) arenas have contributed to changes in the political discourse on defence industries within the European space. This article aims to explore how the national discourse on defence industries has become interrelated with a European discourse on the topic—a European discourse that mixes some of the old national arguments with particular aspects related to the constant evolution of the European Union towards an ever more coherent regional polity and international actorness. Also analysed is the extent to which this political move puts at risk the European Union's ambitions to promote a better world, based on an alternative understanding of international politics.

European Union responses to conflict in the western Mediterranean

The European Union (EU) announced an increased commitment to conflict resolution beyond its external border when it adopted the European Neighbourhood Policy in 2003, yet this has not led to any practical initiatives in the western Mediterranean. While the more latent nature of conflicts there puts less pressure on the EU to act than do the ‘hot’ conflicts of the Middle East, various disputes over territorial sovereignty persist and tend to undermine the broader EU ambition to promote stability, Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and region-building. In addition to the bilateral disputes over Gibraltar, Ceuta, Melilla and a number of Spanish islands and rocks off the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, there is the broader regional conflict over Western Sahara, which has long brought tension to relations between Morocco and Algeria and between Spain and each of these North African countries, while also frustrating efforts to build the Arab Maghreb Union. Analysis of the EU's weak responses to both the deadlocked Saharan conflict and to the more recent confrontation that took place between Spain and Morocco over Parsley Island in 2002 shows the importance of internal EU divisions and the Union's concern not to upset partners in North Africa, especially Morocco. Yet, despite the EU's reluctance and/or inability to engage in conflict resolution in the western Mediterranean, its policies do have consequences for regional conflicts, even when the EU claims to be neutral. Its privileging of relations with Morocco involves an acceptance that the Moroccan authorities are valid interlocutors for reaching agreements that affect Western Sahara.