The EU Regulatory State, Commission Leadership and External Energy Governance

In the 1990s the European Union extended its regulatory state model (Majone 1994; Lodge 2002; Moran 2002; Lodge 2008; Levi-Faur 2011) to the utilities sectors, and began to liberalize its gas market. As this process got underway, the EU began to pursue a parallel process: extending the reach of the single market beyond its borders. In fact, the EU sought to guarantee security of energy supplies primarily by extending its regulatory governance beyond its jurisdiction. These efforts included enlarging the EU (thereby expanding the direct reach of its regulatory apparatus), establishing the European Economic Area (EEA) (making key energy-supplier Norway comply with EU rules), and setting up policy agreements such as the Energy Charter Treaty with former Communist states — notably Russia (which currently supplies the EU with 30 per cent of its gas and 35 per cent of its oil) (Eurostat 2012).