EUROPEAN ENERGY - BALANCING MARKETS AND POLICY

The current climate of opinion in European policy making circles is fi rmly for the liberalization and the opening up of energy markets at th e expense of a planned, coordinated, European energy policy, This pape r examines both market and policy failures and argues that one solutio n cannot be judged to be unambiguously better than the other, It gives the grounds for justifying a European energy policy and looks at the principal objectives that the energy policy should aim for and the mai n methods by which these objectives could be met. Finally, the institu tional dilemmas faced in implementing a Europe-wide energy policy are considered and conclusions are drawn concerning the aims and methods t hat a future European energy policy should incorporate.