Asymmetric Integration in the EU: Nuclear Energy Policy within European member states
Roberto Maria Sciarra
Prof. Lars Rensmann
PL 315 Institutions and Policies of the European Union
November 2, 2013
Asymmetric Integration in the EU: Nuclear Energy Policy within European member states
The delegation of powers by member states for the process of integration has made the European Union unique in its kind. Although the main European theoretical schools might argue whether the EU is more supranational and intergovernmental, no one can argue that European states have made a serious commitment to create an “ever closer union”. Especially with the arrival of the single currency, it is clear that the level of cooperation among the European member states is nothing comparable either to any other International Governmental Organization (IGO) in the world or to any other federal state. Nowadays, the EU legislation affects several policy areas by trumping domestic law and by hampering the sovereign powers of its member states. However, compared to all the other policy fields that EU monitors, regulates, and enforces, the nuclear policy field has remained quite silent. Indeed, while all the other policy areas went through a functional integration process, the issue of nuclear energy remained clearly in the hands of states and rather went through a process of disintegration. Nonetheless, nuclear energy is far for not being important in the European scenario; a lot of states make nuclear energy one the main sources of power and the public sphere pays serious attention to it.
Therefore, this paper will try to address the nuclear energy integration process as a failure compared to the fact that member states really take into account the importance (and the dangers) of nuclear energy. The paper will basically focus on the main EU institution that deals with nuclear energy (EURATOM) and its failure. In addition, public opinion, alongside with the policies adopted in this field by the governments of the member states, will be taken into analysis to
Prof. Lars Rensmann
PL 315 Institutions and Policies of the European Union
November 2, 2013
Asymmetric Integration in the EU: Nuclear Energy Policy within European member states
The delegation of powers by member states for the process of integration has made the European Union unique in its kind. Although the main European theoretical schools might argue whether the EU is more supranational and intergovernmental, no one can argue that European states have made a serious commitment to create an “ever closer union”. Especially with the arrival of the single currency, it is clear that the level of cooperation among the European member states is nothing comparable either to any other International Governmental Organization (IGO) in the world or to any other federal state. Nowadays, the EU legislation affects several policy areas by trumping domestic law and by hampering the sovereign powers of its member states. However, compared to all the other policy fields that EU monitors, regulates, and enforces, the nuclear policy field has remained quite silent. Indeed, while all the other policy areas went through a functional integration process, the issue of nuclear energy remained clearly in the hands of states and rather went through a process of disintegration. Nonetheless, nuclear energy is far for not being important in the European scenario; a lot of states make nuclear energy one the main sources of power and the public sphere pays serious attention to it.
Therefore, this paper will try to address the nuclear energy integration process as a failure compared to the fact that member states really take into account the importance (and the dangers) of nuclear energy. The paper will basically focus on the main EU institution that deals with nuclear energy (EURATOM) and its failure. In addition, public opinion, alongside with the policies adopted in this field by the governments of the member states, will be taken into analysis to
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