The struggle over support schemes for renewable electricity in the european union: A discursive-institutionalist analysis

The politics of EU renewable energy policy and legislation is analysed and an apparent paradox investigated. The liberalising philosophy of the internal market inspired an electricity liberalisation law in the mid-1990s. Continued support for neoliberal instruments (especially in key departments of the European Commission) further bolstered Commission plans to introduce a quota and certificate scheme. Despite this support, such schemes were rejected by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers in the legislative process leading up to the renewable energy laws of 2001 and 2009. The article investigates this apparent paradox using an analytical research framework based on discursive institutionalism. Relying on textual analysis and extensive interviews, it argues that the Commissiońs preference for Tradable Green Certificates can primarily be attributed to its conformity with the market-oriented macro-discourse dominant in EU institutions, and shared by a substantial discursive issue network. The opposing coalition, however, was able to build a discourse around subsidiarity, good governance and flexibility that ultimately swayed the Parliament and Council.