European Energy Policies in a Changing Environment

Across the European Union, energy policy remains a highly controversial issue, despite the relative stability of energy markets and the lack of concern of energy availabilities and prices which marked previous debates on the issue. The debates on nuclear power in Germany, on the coal industry in the UK indicate the continuing resonance of energy policy as a source of dispute at the national level. Moreover, while the urgency which the 1970s energy crises brought to policy discussions may no longer exist, the emergence of new issues, such as the environment and economic liberalisation, have offered new challenges for energy policy. These issues also arise in a European setting. Early in 1995 the European Commission published a Green Paper on Energy Policy -indeed, as the manuscript was completed the Commission was finalising a White Paper -and the issue will be on the agenda of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference. The outcome of these discussions is far from clear, but there is no doubt that, in one way or another the European Union will help to shape national energy policies for many years to come.