EU Rulemaking in Response to Crisis: the Emergence of the Principle of Energy Solidarity and its Use

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the legal development in the energy market, within the general EU internal market, and focuses on the emergence of the principle of energy solidarity. The process has been premised on the inclusion of Article 194 TFEU in 2009 and the resulting shift of legal basis, from Article 114 TFEU. But the significant stages are more recent. The analysis takes its starting point in the ruling by the EU Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) in Case C-848/19 P, where the Court declared the existence of a principle of energy solidarity that both EU institutions and Member States must take into account in the normal operation of the internal market. Then, the article proceeds with an empirical assessment how that ruling has been exploited by the EU Commission and Legislature. The overall conclusion is that the principle defined by the Court in the context of Article 194 TFEU has enabled the EU Legislature to push the confines of its competences and, in that way, to respond to the energy crisis.