Electric energy restructuring in the European Union: Integration, subsidiarity and the challenge of harmonization

In 1996, the European Union (EU) instituted Directive 96/92/EC that aims to establish a competitive, secure and transparent EU-wide internal electric energy market. The process of electricity market restructuring in the EU is being guided primarily by the principle of subsidiarity. As an organizational concept, the principle of subsidiarity allows Member States to establish their own implementation strategies and methods as a means of achieving the EU-mandated goal of electric energy restructuring. Historically, the structure of the electric energy industry in place among the Member States exhibited widely disparate organizational and functional characteristics with regard to ownership, control and regulation. Under these varied and contrasting political and economic conditions, the goal of a EU-wide harmonized electric energy market becomes very challenging. In this paper, I describe the policy mechanisms and the market conditions mandated by the EU directive aimed at liberalizing the electric energy market. I then assess the role of political culture, historical resource endowment and geographical conditions in the utility restructuring strategies of some key Member States and its effects on the overall goals of a harmonized internal electric energy market. Finally, I argue that European electric energy restructuring must be understood within the context of the political and economic milieu that spawned the individual Member States’ electric energy industry.