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Introduction
Sixty years after the signing of the Treaty of
Rome, the European Union with its unique pro-
ject of integration is witnessing rough times. Its
fundamental values, its legitimacy and its future
are being questioned. Increasingly, there are
calls for a renationalisation of the political do-
main with the referral of competencies back to
member states, effectively stalling further inte-
gration. Furthermore, societies all over Europe
are confronted with the growing threat of pop-
ulism, demagogy and xenophobia. What has
been long thought to be left behind through
integration is suddenly rekindling a divisive
flame with the potential to further disintegrate
the European Union.
On the background of these developments
both European institutions and member states
have been authorised to develop strategies to
overcome anti-European sentiments and inte-
gration fatigue by formulating concrete policies
that not only create macro-economic gains but
more so generate real benefits for the citizens of
Europe. This entails the arduous task of finding
the common denominator between the diverse
member state interests. By increasingly catering
for people’s livelihoods and sentiments, it is es-
sential that the European project reconnects to
people’s lives, by finding an issue field, which
affects every single citizen across the Union. As
the history of European integration shows, it
was always successful, when it focused on a pri-
oritised project or policy field.
It is somehow also the founding myth of the
European Union to start with sources of energy
and pool competencies as the six founding
members did in the 1950s. In this faith, President
Juncker announced the European Energy Union,
for which he identified five key dimensions,
aimed to take into account the concerns of all
member states – (a) energy security, solidarity
and trust; (b) full integration of the European
energy market; (c) energy efficiency as a means
to moderate demand; (d) decarbonisation of
the economy; (e) research, innovation, and
competitiveness. These were developed in a
Framework Strategy published on 25 February
The European energy union:
spurning integration or
business as usual?
Philipp Fink, Antoine Guillou and Robert Schachtschneider