The UK and EU Energy Policy: From Awkward Partner to Active Protagonist?

This chapter examines the way in which the British government has shifted its stance on the details and scope of a common energy policy in the European Union (EU). That shift has been highly significant: more or less from the moment of membership, British politicians and officials were wary of transferring authority over energy matters to the European level. A combination of domestic political divisions over its participation in the European Community and the desire to retain control over the resources of the North Sea meant that British governments were quite hostile to the development of a more coor-dinated European approach to energy matters. This reluctance to engage persisted over the subsequent decades with regard to most aspects of energy policy, the principal exception being in the area of market liberalization (a policy innovation where the United Kingdom [UK] was an early adopter). In an echo of the UK’s traditional “economistic” motivation for participating in European integration, Conservative—and later Labour—governments were forceful sup-porters of the European Commission proposals to increase competition in the energy sector (though other Member States were, at least initially less enthused).