Crisis, Climate Change and Comitology: Policy Dismantling Via the Backdoor?

Abstract

The EU is reputed to be a climate pioneer. However, the EU has been beset by crises, with potentially negative consequences for climate ambitions. The coding and analysis of EU climate legislation between 1998 and 2015 reveal that while the rate of creating climate policy has increased since the onset of the crisis, the ambition of these policies has waned. Technical policy instruments (comitology) at the EU level, namely delegated and implementing acts (DIA), are analysed alongside the legislation adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure (OLP). If they were applied as indicated in the treaties, the technical DIA measures should not influence the EU's policy ambitions, but in fact, during the crisis era, DIA measures were used more frequently than during the pre-crisis era, and used in three out of the four cases that weaken policy, suggesting that a minor dismantling of climate policy is taking place at EU level, but via the back door.

Weathering growing polarization? The European Parliament and EU foreign climate policy ambitions

“…All in all, MEPs and political groups have remained stable in their support for ambitious FCP. This complements findings that the EP continues to be a 'strategic environmental advocate' (Burns, 2019, p. 324) despite an overall 'less radical' tone and tempering policy ambition towards other EU institutions (Burns et al, 2013, p. 949;Burns & Tobin, 2020). Yet, we find polarization among EP political groups in their qualitative justifications of foreign climate ambitions.…”

“…In contrast to the analysis of votes or resolution texts, our qualitative analysis of speeches offers further nuance to the EP's changing environmental/climate championship (Burns et al, 2013, p. 953). While the EP's increased inter-institutional cooperation with the Council and Commission can explain why its resolutions and tabled amendments, over time, have taken a more moderate tone (Burns, 2019;Burns et al, 2013;Burns & Tobin, 2020;Delreux & Burns, 2019), plenary speeches represent the opportunity for MEPs to make public declarations, attract attention and profile themselves. They reflect individuals' positions rather than the collective compromises found in joint EP resolutions.…”

The Covid-19 crisis: a critical juncture for EU climate policy development?

“…Research has outlined the many ways in which policies may be weakened or made ineffective (see e.g. Burns and Tobin 2020). Intergenerational cleavages in impacts of, and responses to, both climate change and the Covid-19 crisis may also become more acute, leading to new types and venues of contestation.…”

Presidential leadership styles and institutional capacity for climate policy integration in the European Commission

“…Juncker also pursued a 'Better Regulation' agenda that aimed at identifying unnecessary or redundant EU policies. This agenda threatened certain established environmental policies, which revealed a lack of commitment or clear understanding of functional overlaps in practice, and which also partly explains the slow development of climate policy proposals in Juncker's early years (Burns & Tobin, 2020;Gravey & Jordan, 2019).…”