Contesting the EU’s turn in energy and climate policy under the prism of multidimensional power

This paper discusses the recent turn in EU energy and climate policy through the lenses of the different forms of power involved in the EU’s approach. The paper argues that the EU misuses its productive power and fails to shift structural power dynamics, at the same time that it overplays its institutional and compulsory power despite the EU’s obvious limitations regarding the former and impotency in the latter. The perpetuation and upgrade of its gas first policy vs. the dual commitment to renewables promotion and the reshuffling of the energy system fails the EU in both the energy and climate fronts. This strategic choice effectively denies clean, smart energy systems a central status and role, reproduces high import dependency and associated risks, and falls short of providing adequate responses to climate change. A revisiting of the EU energy and climate policy involving greater emphasis on internal restructuring and on speeding up the energy transition is hence necessary for both the EU’s energy and climate objectives.