EU energy policies towards the 21st century. A business intelligence report

EU energy policies towards the 21st Century:
The last decade of the twentieth century has seen radical changes in government attitudes towards energy policy. These changes have evolved because of a weak market in energy, a growing scientific and public concern over environmental damage, and wider pressures for improved conditions of competition. The Member States of the European Community, with their very different energy supply structures and policies, have responded to these changes in an equally varied way, some focusing on environmental concerns, others racing ahead with market liberalisation, and still others with continuing concerns over security of supply or bringing economic development to certain regions.

Paul K. Lyons, the editor of the well-respected monthly journal EC Inform-Energy, has written and published another one of his Business Intelligence Reports on EU energy policy. This one gives a comprehensive survey of the wide range of actions undertaken by the Commission and other EU Institutions that have an impact on energy, allied with an incisive commentary and analysis of those actions by the author.

The report can be divided into three sections. A first part looks at the basis of and competences for energy policy at the EU level. The second part, which is the core of the report, looks in detail at the four main objectives which underpin the Community's actions affecting the energy sector. Two of these - the Single Market and sustainable development - are very much preoccupations of energy policy in the present day; the two others - security of supply and economic and social cohesion - are of lesser direct importance for energy. The third part of the report goes on to look at four areas of Community policy which are easier to categorise and digest in themselves than through the lens of the EU's objectives: nuclear issues; research and development; enlargement; international affairs. Text is supplemented by a large number of charts and diagrams.

At the back of the report there is a glossary of appropriate acronyms and abbreviations and a list of documents/legislative decisions referred to throughout the text, with bibliographical references. There is also a listing of energyrelated websites.

While direct access to the primary sources of EU information will always remain important, having quality parallel sources of information from specialist writers close to but outside the EU Institutions is also vital. In the area of EU energy policy this new EC Inform report satisfies that need to excellent effect.

Lyons, Paul K.
EU energy policies towards the 21st Century
EC Inform, 1998
ISBN: 0-9524253-2-7
Price: £425 (please contact EC Inform regarding special offer for academic organisations and small NGOs of £125, and for combined subscriptions for this and other EC Inform titles)

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