IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cog/poango/v9y2021i3p348-359.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The European Council, the Council, and the European Green Deal

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey Rosamond

    (Department of Public Governance and Management, Ghent University, Belgium)

  • Claire Dupont

    (Department of Public Governance and Management, Ghent University, Belgium)

Abstract

We assess the response of the European Council and the Council of the European Union (hereafter the Council) to the emergence and development of the European Green Deal (EGD). First, we conduct a literature review of the historical role of the two intergovernmental institutions in EU climate policy development, drawing inspiration from new intergovernmentalism, historical institutionalism, and discursive institutionalism. Next, we provide an overview of the EGD itself and three of its core elements: (1) the ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2050; (2) its systemic and integrative nature; and (3) the just transition approach. We then present the results of a qualitative content analysis of all Council and European Council Conclusions from 2018 to 2020. Our findings show that the European Council and the Council have declared support for the EGD and its underlying principles. The European Council engaged with all three elements but mentioned the objective of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 most frequently and with growing intensity over the years studied. The Council similarly discussed the three elements of the EGD and gave increasing focus to the integrated/systemic transition over the course of the years 2018–2020. Our empirical analysis suggests that, on paper, the Council and the European Council may manage to govern through the organisational turbulence of member state divisions on climate governance. Furthermore, environmental turbulence arising from external contexts (e.g., economic and health crises) did not dampen their declared support towards the goals of the EGD.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey Rosamond & Claire Dupont, 2021. "The European Council, the Council, and the European Green Deal," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 348-359.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v9:y:2021:i:3:p:348-359
    DOI: 10.17645/pag.v9i3.4326
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/4326
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.17645/pag.v9i3.4326?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marco Siddi, 2021. "Coping With Turbulence: EU Negotiations on the 2030 and 2050 Climate Targets," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 327-336.
    2. Mary Dobbs & Viviane Gravey & Ludivine Petetin, 2021. "Driving the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 316-326.
    3. Mary Dobbs & Viviane Gravey & Ludivine Petetin, 2021. "Driving the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 316-326.
    4. Christopher J. Bickerton & Dermot Hodson & Uwe Puetter, 2015. "The New Intergovernmentalism: European Integration in the Post-Maastricht Era," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(4), pages 703-722, July.
    5. Marco Siddi, 2021. "Coping With Turbulence: EU Negotiations on the 2030 and 2050 Climate Targets," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 327-336.
    6. Charlotte Burns & Paul Tobin, 2020. "Crisis, Climate Change and Comitology: Policy Dismantling Via the Backdoor?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 527-544, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claire Dupont & Diarmuid Torney, 2021. "European Union Climate Governance and the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 312-315.
    2. Jeffrey Rosamond & Claire Dupont, 2021. "The European Council, the Council, and the European Green Deal," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 348-359.
    3. Joseph Earsom & Tom Delreux, 2021. "A Nice Tailwind: The EU’s Goal Achievement at the IMO Initial Strategy," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 401-411.
    4. Marco Siddi, 2021. "Coping With Turbulence: EU Negotiations on the 2030 and 2050 Climate Targets," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 327-336.
    5. Claire Dupont & Diarmuid Torney, 2021. "European Union Climate Governance and the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 312-315.
    6. Odysseas Christou, 2021. "Energy Security in Turbulent Times Towards the European Green Deal," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 360-369.
    7. Diarmuid Torney, 2021. "Deliberative Mini-Publics and the European Green Deal in Turbulent Times: The Irish and French Climate Assemblies," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 380-390.
    8. Jonas J. Schoenefeld, 2021. "The European Green Deal: What Prospects for Governing Climate Change With Policy Monitoring?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 370-379.
    9. Katja Biedenkopf, 2021. "Polish Climate Policy Narratives: Uniqueness, Alternative Pathways, and Nascent Polarisation," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 391-400.
    10. Luuk Middelaar, 2016. "The Return of Politics – The European Union after the crises in the eurozone and Ukraine," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 495-507, May.
    11. Eric Tremolada & Carlos Tassara & Olivier Costa, 2019. "Colombia y la Unión Europea. Una asociación cada vez más estrecha," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 1101.
    12. Torbjørg Jevnaker & Barbara Saerbeck, 2019. "EU Agencies and the Energy Union: Providing Useful Information to the Commission?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(1), pages 60-69.
    13. Brigitte Pircher & Karl Loxbo, 2020. "Compliance with EU Law in Times of Disintegration: Exploring Changes in Transposition and Enforcement in the EU Member States between 1997 and 2016," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1270-1287, September.
    14. Odysseas Christou, 2021. "Energy Security in Turbulent Times Towards the European Green Deal," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 360-369.
    15. Moritz Rehm, 2021. "Tug of War over Financial Assistance: Which Way Forward for Eurozone Stability Mechanisms?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(2), pages 173-184.
    16. Paul Copeland, 2021. "The Ordinary Legislative Procedure in a Post-Brexit EU: The Case of Social Europe," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(1), pages 69-78.
    17. Gijs Jan Brandsma & Jan Pollex & Paul Tobin, 2023. "Overlooked Yet Ongoing: Policy Termination in the European Union," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 1360-1376, September.
    18. Beetz, Jan Pieter & Rossi, Enzo, 2015. "EU legitimacy in a realist key," Discussion Papers, Center for Global Constitutionalism SP IV 2015-802, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    19. Karl W. Steininger & Keith Williges & Lukas H. Meyer & Florian Maczek & Keywan Riahi, 2022. "Sharing the effort of the European Green Deal among countries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    20. Frank Wendler, 2023. "The European Green Deal Agenda After the Attack on Ukraine: Exogenous Shock Meets Policy‐Making Stability," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 11(4), pages 352-364.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cog:poango:v9:y:2021:i:3:p:348-359. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: António Vieira or IT Department (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cogitatiopress.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.