Research Papers

Among the most controversial of the technologies used to produce electricity in the European Union is nuclear technology. Hoerber and Barnes analyze the EURATOM Treaty which was the outcome of that political discourse and has remained substantively unaltered since it was adopted in 1957. It produced an effective governance arrangement to deal with specific aspects of nuclear safety. But as the authors demonstrate the EURATOM Treaty was constrained by national concerns and ‘conflict’ amongst the national governments about the extent of competences which were transferred to the supranational level of governance. However, Hoerber and Barnes argue that the EURATOM Treaty has provided a structure which supports the views of those EU states which have anti-nuclear and those which have pro-nuclear policies in the twenty-first century. They investigate the terms of the Treaty to identify those lessons which may be learnt from the EURATOM Treaty and transferred into a new Energy Treaty for the EU. They argue the importance of transferring the discourse on solidarity between the EU’s states which was apparent, but became side lined in the 1950s, should become core in the discourse of the twenty-first century. If not then the EU will continue to be unable to deliver an effective EU Energy Policy which addresses the interdependency of energy, the environment (including climate change) and sustainable development.