Conference on energy, the market and the law: a european dialogue between economists and lawyers

Abstract

ABSTRACT
Energy, both a private and a public good…
Energy and electricity are private goods but touch directly and indirectly on far too many socially and politically sensitive issues to leave their production and consumption entirely to market forces. An increasingly complex web of legal provisions both at the European as well as on the national level are thus trying to steer the sector in a direction that is conform with public policy objectives. European energy markets are thus caught in a trilemma between supranational, national and market forces whose ultimate outcome is increasingly difficult to understand, and even less to prejudge, even for the informed observer.

Even if the completion of the internal energy market announced for 2014 is still not a reality in 2015, the Juncker Commission made the Energy Union one of the priorities of its term. The creation of the Energy Union should contribute towards a secure, sustainable and competitive single energy market. In this context, Article 194 TFEU, adopted in the Lisbon Treaty could become the focal point of energy policy. However, energy touches on some strong national sovereignty issues, the principle of subsidiarity and the priority of action of Member States in matter of their energy mix. Questions about the right level of intervention in electricity markets are thus complex, render the market designs more unstable and may ultimately discourage investors.

…evolves in a force field defined by the market, Member States and the EU Commission
At the same time, DG Competition asserts its prerogatives in the energy field, not only to decide on issues of market power, but also to strengthen its investigative powers in matters of state aid following the adoption of the guidelines on state aid in the fields of environment and energy. Its goal is to monitor the compliance of public policy instruments adopted by the Member States and their implementation to encourage develop specific equipment or contributing to energy security and adequacy of electric capacity, whatever the possible impact of this control on the effectiveness. In fact we observe that the articulation of the article194 with competition policy, on the one hand, and with the control of State aids and the rules of free movement, on the other, remains unclear. Decisions on a case by case basis are observed, which does not create a sufficiently clear jurisprudence when the law is faced with complex economic facts.

In order to clarify some of the complex issues arising from this tension, the Chaire European Electricity Markets (CEEM) and the IREDIES are organising a dialogue between lawyers and economists on economics and law in the energy sector to clarify the issues surrounding the search for the delicate balance between market forces, the European Commission and EU Member States.