Agenda dynamics on energy policy in the European Council

Abstract

Policy issues can arrive on the agendas of political institutions following two routes: a low and a high politics one. In the first case, involvement of experts and working groups is envisaged. In the latter, the power of top institutions is emphasized with their tasks of drawing overall strategies, acting as final arbiters or decision-makers and delegating policy proposals downwards. A high politics institution in the multilevel system of the EU is the European Council, whose role in shaping the Union agenda has increased over the years. Analysing the Conclusions issued after meetings of this body, we find that energy is a topic with relatively little overall attention and sensitive to drastic shifts over time. Energy-related issues appearance on the agenda was sometimes the result of focusing events but also represented strategic discussions in the form of policy planning and review. Classifying the statements in the Conclusions of the European Council in categories, we find that the text can be almost equally divided between evaluations or positions, setting of targets and concrete actions. In short, while attracting on average rather limited attention, energy has the power to become salient in times of critical events or strong need of strategic guideline provision. And its appearance on the agenda often results in new initiatives and delegation of action to lower levels of policy making.