Paper Titles & Abstracts

This paper examines the case of negotiating methods for emission allowances (EUAs) allocation to power sector companies within the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) by the Polish government, power sector and industries. When in January 2008 the European Commission proposed full auctions of EUAs for the European power sector, Polish businesses and government allied in opposition to it. In the course of building up a lobbying network, Polish energy experts introduced a method elaborated by experts from the European branch of International Federation of Intensive Energy Consumers (IFIEC-Europe) to the Polish negotiation portfolio. Communication between IFIEC-Europe and the Polish government intensified. This new expertise caused a shift in the Polish negotiation position: from asking for exemptions from the auctioning for the Polish power sector companies to proposing a benchmark allocation for all power sector companies in the EU. Also justifications changed: from a nationalistic protectionist discourse of salvaging the Polish economy to a Europeanized discourse of protecting European industries from high electricity prices. In other words, networks of experts established in the course of lobbying and negotiation activities, brought about a significant change in discourse and negotiation strategy of the Polish government and businesses - from a nationalistic to a European one. While Gil Eyal proposes to study experts' role in translating interests, ideas, concepts, logics between various fields, this paper proposes to study experts' role in Europeanizing interests, strategies, discourses of governments and national business lobbies within the European decision-making arena. Translation, a concept developed by actor-network scholars like Michel Callon, John Law and Bruno Latour, helps to grasp mechanisms through which particular interests are allied by being simplified and juxtaposed with each other.