Agenda-setting, policy formulation, and the EU institutional context: The case of the Just Transition Fund

Abstract

Utilizing Kingdon's Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) as a basis, this article aims to further the understanding of the influence institutional factors have on agenda-setting and policy formulation in the European Union (EU). It does so by analyzing the policy process of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) from agenda-setting to policy formulation by the Commission. The research finds that policy entrepreneurship is strongly determined by the characteristics and overlap of institutional policy windows. In the JTF case, the institutional context enhanced the influence of policy entrepreneurs within the European Parliament, especially the S&D party, on the combined process of agenda-setting and policy formulation. Therefore, this paper illustrates that EU MSF scholarship would benefit from taking institutional factors more into account. The conclusions also indicate that supranational institutions can play a larger role in EU climate policy formulation than some of the current research suggests.