Conclusion: Liberal Mercantilism?

The point of departure for this book was the role in EU external policy that the Commission has gradually acquired as the manager of the EU’s regulatory state. In this capacity, the Commission’s mandate is narrow, and its toolbox is limited. However, within the parameters that the single market rules constitute, the EU can and does act in a unified, cohesive and comparatively effective way. Recent developments in international energy markets have highlighted asymmetries in the way that the EU (and its member states) on the one hand, and Russia and Gazprom on the other hand, pursue their objectives in the gas market. Such developments represent the backdrop for the Energy Union initiatives. The Russia’s annexation of the Crimea brought these issues to the forefront of the EU’s political agenda. The EU’s emphasis on market-building and competition law represents a unique liberal approach to regional governance and trade—a liberal grand strategy. The Energy Union proposal acknowledged that this strategy now faces important challenges, and that this may warrant new policy initiatives that amount to a modification of—or even a departure from—the EU’s liberal regulation and practices in energy governance.