The Origins of Energy and Environmental Policy in Europe

The Beginnings of a European Environmental Conscience

Thomas Hoerber

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9781136182716
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book examines the development of a European environmental conscience through successive steps of European integration in energy policy.

In the 1960s-70s, the world was slowly beginning to realise that environment degradation was not sustainable. With phenomena such as acid rain, it became clear that pollution did not stop at national boundaries and the European environmental conscience developed in parallel to such growing environmental concerns. The oil crisis in 1973 was a turning point in the integration process for both energy policy and environment policy, and while further integration towards the European energy policy failed; the environmental policies took shape in measures such as energy saving. The Commission incorporated both energy and environmental policies into the EU policy canon and built an institutional framework, responding to the insufficiency of national policy answers and the developing environmental conscience of the European people.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European Integration, European Union politics and history and environmental politics and policy.

Notes

I Introduction

1 M. Michel d’Ornano (RI), Minister for Industry and Research, ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE 1^re SEANCE DU 14 MAI 1975, 2650I.

2 M. Maurice Ligot (UC), ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE – 1^re SEANCE DU 6 NOVEMBRE 1973, 5209I; translation “Statements by President Nixon on recent events on the world stage, the war in the Middle East and Arab oil producers’ decisions have highlighted our dangerous energy dependency, showing it to be greater than we imagined. You have spoken to us at length about this and you have explained how difficult French energy policy is, since we lack resources of our own, but we cannot accept that we should obey the law of a single area of the world and allow our economic activity and the living standards of our peoples to be controlled by entirely foreign decision-makers.” Original: « Les déclarations du président Nixon, les derniers événements mondiaux, la guerre au Proche-Orient, les décisions des pays arabes producteurs de pétrole, ont souligné notre dangereuse dépendance énergétique, et à un point que nous ne soupçonnions pas. Vous nous en avez parlé longuement, vous nous avez montré la difficulté d’une politique énergétique française car nous ne disposons d’aucune source propre, liais nous ne pouvons admettre de subir la loi d’une seule région du monde et de laisser soumettre l’ensemble de notre activité économique et le niveau de vie de nos populations à des volontés totalement étrangères. » See also M. Edouard Schloesing (RDS), Special Rapporteur, ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE – 1^re SEANCE DU 14 NOVEMBRE 1974, 6352I; translation «France was drawing from its own territory 50% of its energy supplies in 1963, but that it draws now only 23%; 30% of our coal supplies and 55% of gas burned in France is imported: the share of oil of French origin is negligible. These figures, however humiliating, must be stressed as they are a sharp reminder of our dependency.” Original: «la France tirait de son sol 50 p. 100 de son approvisionnement en énergie en 1963, mais qu’elle n’en tire plus que 23 p. 100 aujourd’hui ; 30 p. 100 de notre approvisionnement en charbon et 55 p. 100 du gaz consommé en France sont importés : la part du pétrole d’origine nationale est négligeable. Ces chiffres, pour humiliants qu’ils soient, doivent être rappelés, car ils mesurent le niveau de notre dépendance. » See also M. Pierre-Charles Krieg (UDR), ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE – SEANCE DU 23 NOVEMBRE 1973, 6337I; translation « This shows, if I can rely on the statistics I have seen, that France’s energy policy and Europe’s energy policy are both now seriously threatened: 75% of France’s energy supplies consists in oil from abroad – and the corresponding figure for Europe is 60%. » Original : « Cela montre que la politique énergétique de la France, actuellement dépendante à 75 p. 100 des importations de pétrole, que la politique énergétique de l’Europe, dépendante à 60 p. 100 - si les statistiques que j’ai obtenues sont exactes – sont incontestablement en danger. » See also “1973 showed us how far the dependence of Europe on outside sources of energy and raw materials can endanger its prosperity; our euphoria over the amazing economic development of our continent in the 1960s was such that we did not wish to see how the world was changing”, SEVENTH GENERAL REPORT, 1973, pp. xvi–xvii.

3 M. Pierre Weisenhorn (UDR), Rapporteur, ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE – 1^re SEANCE DU 28 JUIN 1975, 4989II–4990I. Original: « Chaque fois que le transport direct de calories produites dans une installation industrielle vers le demandeur de calories aboutit à une moindre déperdition d’énergie que dans le système classique qui vient d’être décrit, il y a lieu d’étudier sérieusement le bilan économique de l’opération et d’y intégrer également les dégradations de l’environnement produites par le rejet dans des rivières polluées, dans la mer ou dans l’atmosphère des quantités de chaleur dissipées en pure perte dans la première hypothèse. »

4 M. Michel Crépeau (PSRG), ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE – 1^re SEANCE DU 6 JUIN 1975, 3824II. Translation : « The consumer society is a society of wastage. That is our society. » Original: « C’est toute une politique qui est liée à ce gaspillage : la société de consommation, c’est la société du gaspillage, c’est notre société. »

5 See: “React jointly in the face of the new challenge. For the fact is there and cannot be denied; we had lost sight of the real dimensions of Europe. From now on we must always bear in mind these simple but basic truths, which events have taken it upon themselves to thrust under our noses. Europe is poor in energy. Only a small part, less than 40%, of the energy it consumes is available on Community territory, and the Community is not extensively involved in exploiting resources elsewhere in the world. This, at any rate, is the case for the short and medium term. It is also a thesis of more general application, concerning not only the special problem of oil but the whole range of raw materials and certain agricultural and food products. Here I feel it is useful to recall a few figures, especially where they can be used to sum up facts of such great importance; in 1972, primary products accounted for more than half the total imports into the Nine and almost all of its imports—91 % to be precise—from developing countries. We must fully realize the new situation of the European economy following the rise in energy and commodity prices”, SEVENTH GENERAL REPORT, 1973, pp. xvii–xviii.

6 See: “As regards the hydrocarbons sector, medium-term guidelines (1980–85) are at present being drawn up which will define the conditions for greater security of supply as well as the problems raised by the industrial structure in this sector. During the period 1970–85 petroleum will remain the Community’s principal energy source. World oil resources appear sufficient to satisfy requirements, but the supply conditions are liable to change and the procurement policy of the consumer countries will have to be adapted to the new situation.” FIFTH GENERAL REPORT, 1971, sec. 369. See also “Since the Community relies on outside sources for two-thirds of its requirements, supply policy is the cornerstone of any energy policy. It must provide the Community with the means of meeting its needs under the best conditions of cost and security.” FIFTH GENERAL REPORT, 1971, sec. 372.

7 J. Habermas, Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns, 2 vols, Suhrkamp, 1981; see also J. Habermas, Erläuterungen zur Diskursethik, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1991.

8 See Anthony Giddens, “Jürgen Habermas”, in Q. Skinner (ed.), The Return of Grand Theory in the Human Sciences, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1985.

9 H.-G. Gadamer, Wahrheit und Methode: Grundzüge einer Philosophischen Hermeneutic, 4th ed., Paul Siebeck, Tübingen, 1975, p. 355.

10 J. C. Weinheimer, Gadamer’s Hermeneutics A Reading of Truth and Method, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1985, p. 14.

11 H.-G. Gadamer, Wahrheit und Methode, p. xxii.

12 See H.-G. Gadamer, “The Ontological Problem of Value” (1971), in H.-G. Gadamer Hermeneutics, Religion, & Ethics, translated by J. Weinheimer, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1999, pp. 58–75.

13 For a more in-depth explanation of the connection between social memory and language see H.-G. Gadamer, “Die Antropologische Grundlage der Freiheit des Menschen”, in H.-G. Gadamer, Das Erbe Europas, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1989, pp. 126–35.

14 H.-G. Gadamer, “Die Aufgabe der Philosopie”, in H.-G. Gadamer, Das Erbe Europas, Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1989, p. 173 (translation mine).

15 Ferdinand Braudel, A History of Civilizations, translated by Richard Mayne, Penguin, London, 1994, p. xxv.

16 Ferdinand Braudel, A History of Civilizations, pp. 345–46.

17 Ferdinand Braudel, A History of Civilizations, p.3.

18 Ferdinand Braudel, A History of Civilizations, p.8.

19 Ferdinand Braudel, A History of Civilizations, pp. 35–36.

20 Jean Monnet, Mémoires, Fayard, Paris, 1976, pp. 322, 401.

21 Jean Monnet, Mémoires, p. 324.

22 Jean Monnet, Memoirs, pp. 304, 384, quoted in Michael Burgess, Federalism and European Union: the Building of Europe, 1950–2000, Routledge, London, 2000, p. 34; see also W. Diebold Jr., The Schuman Plan: A Study in Economic Cooperation, 1950–1959, F.A. Praeger, New York, 1959, p. 664, quoted in Michael Burgess, Federalism an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Acronyms
• I. Introduction
• II. Energy and environment
• III. Environment
• IV. Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index