EUROPEAN ENERGY UNION: NATIONAL STRATEGIES OBSTACLES

The European energy sector is faced with serious challenges. While trying to solve the pressing issues unilaterally, Member States have been bypassing and disregarding the benefits of the internal energy market integration by implementing national energy strate­gies aimed at protecting the status quo. A European Energy Union is about optimization of resources and infrastructure on the European level. It is exactly the realization of this need of co-operation and addressing the problems from the European perspective which is still missing among the Member States.

The political sensitivity of the national energy secu­rity is very high, and the perceived risk of blackouts solves as a solid justification for the national interventions. In this context capacity mechanisms represent a quick fix, as even a mere announcement of the future imple­mentation can increase investor confidence and mitigate public concerns. Nevertheless, on the European level the uncoordinated approach towards capacity policies is detrimental for the successful completion of the internal energy market, leading to a greater harm on a larger scale in the long-term. Only compatible capacity mechanism designs with explicit participation models will allow for an effective ‘co-existence’ of the national capacity mechanisms and the European internal energy market. Unfortunately, looking at the current devel­opments in the Member States no signs of harmonization and coordination of national efforts can be observed.

Existing electricity markets in Europe are in need of adjustment and often the direction of these adjustments might be wrongly chosen if the causes of the persistent electricity market flaws are not under­stood. In fact, the observed market distortions arise from the incompatibility of the old market design with the new developments. Protecting the old national equilibrium without realizing the fact that the answers lie in the European co-operation will not solve the issues faced by the Member States but only postpone the pro­gress towards a more sustainable European energy sector. This is why pan-European initiatives such as the expansion of the European electricity network should be given particular attention by all Member States, as the efforts which laid down the base of the existing structures of the European energy system should not be overrun by the national strategies. Security of supply is a European issue, and it cannot be addressed effec­tively unless this fact has been fully acknowledged by the Member States.