The European Council, Council and Member States: jostling for influence

Wurzel, Rüdiger K.W.; Di Lullo, Maurizio; Liefferink, Duncan

Abstract

The European Council and the Council each constitute at once supranational EU institutions in which Member States collectively take decisions in the interest of the EU and intergovernmental bargaining arenas for Member States which try to defend their national interests. While the Environment Council has dealt with climate issues since the 1980s, the European Council has focused more regularly on climate policy issues only after they had become politically salient ‘high politics’ issues. Since about 2007, the European Council has become more active in EU and international climate policy, with notable peaks of activity in 2007-2009 and 2014-2015, associated with the 2009 Copenhagen UN climate conference (COP15) and the 2015 Paris UN climate conference respectively as well as in the run up to the 2021 Glasgow UN climate conference. Although the European Council is meant to define only the general political directions and priorities for the EU, in recent years it has issued sometimes fairly detailed instructions to the Council (and the Commission) to act on a particular climate policy issue. The Environment Council focuses on EU climate dossiers while renewable energy and energy efficiency are usually dealt with by the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council. Council meetings constitute only the tip of the iceberg of the Council machinery. They are prepared by Coreper and Council Working Groups which try to achieve as much consensus as possible on dossiers before they are placed on the agenda of Council meetings. The Council’s Working Party on International Environment Issues has been of central importance for the preparation of international climate conferences where the EU is formally represented by the rotating Presidency. Since 2004, a semi-permanent structure with issue leaders and lead negotiators has been in place and has led to an informal division of labour between the Presidency, Commission and Member States. The Council’s internal structures and administrative capacities to deal with EU and international climate issues have changed considerably over the years. This seems to confirm Helen Wallace’s (2003) assessment that the Council is an ‘institutional chameleon’. Over time there have also been significant changes in the relationships between Member States on EU climate issues, with different alliances emerging inside and outside the European Council and Council. Member States have frequently disagreed about the level of ambition for EU climate policies. The widely accepted informal convention that permanent or quasi permanent alliances between groups of Member States should not be formed within the European Council and/or the Council was repeatedly challenged by the Visegrad countries during the 2010s. This challenge, in conjunction with the decline of the relevance of the green trio/sextet, triggered the setting up of the Green Growth Group, both of which have however purposefully remained ad hoc alliances.

Citation

Wurzel, R. K., Di Lullo, M., & Liefferink, D. (2023). The European Council, Council and Member States: jostling for influence. In T. Rayner, K. Szulecki, A. J. Jordan, & S. Oberthür (Eds.), Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics (38-52). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789906981.00014

• Online Publication Date: Jul 14, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 14, 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 3, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 20, 2023
• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Pages: 38-52
• Series Title: Elgar Handbooks in Energy, the Environment and Climate Change
• Book Title: Handbook on European Union Climate Change Policy and Politics
• Chapter Number: 3
• ISBN: 9781789906974
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781789906981.00014
• Keywords: Different alliances; Climate change; European Council; Council; Member States; Green Growth Group; Visegrad countries
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4111475
• Publisher URL: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-on-european-union-climate-change-policy-and-politics-9781789906974.html#:~:text=Contributors-,The%20Handbook%20on%20European%20Union%20Climate%20Change%20Policy%20and%20Politics,increasingly%20ambitious%20climate%
• Additional Information: The final version of the manuscript for this chapter was submitted to the editors of the book in late September. A subtitle to the main chapter title was supplied to the editors on 3 October. The completed manuscript of the entire handbook was submitted at the end of the following week. The handbook will be published by Edward Elgar in early 2023
• Contract Date: Oct 3, 2022