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Crisis, Climate Change and Comitology: Policy Dismantling Via the Backdoor?

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  • Charlotte Burns
  • Paul Tobin

Abstract

The EU is reputed to be a climate pioneer. However, the EU has been beset by crises, with potentially negative consequences for climate ambitions. The coding and analysis of EU climate legislation between 1998 and 2015 reveal that while the rate of creating climate policy has increased since the onset of the crisis, the ambition of these policies has waned. Technical policy instruments (comitology) at the EU level, namely delegated and implementing acts (DIA), are analysed alongside the legislation adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure (OLP). If they were applied as indicated in the treaties, the technical DIA measures should not influence the EU's policy ambitions, but in fact, during the crisis era, DIA measures were used more frequently than during the pre‐crisis era, and used in three out of the four cases that weaken policy, suggesting that a minor dismantling of climate policy is taking place at EU level, but via the back door.

Suggested Citation

  • Charlotte Burns & Paul Tobin, 2020. "Crisis, Climate Change and Comitology: Policy Dismantling Via the Backdoor?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 527-544, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:58:y:2020:i:3:p:527-544
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12996
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Diego Badell & Jordi Rosell, 2021. "Are EU Institutions Still Green Actors? An Empirical Study of Green Public Procurement," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(6), pages 1555-1572, November.
    2. Katharina Rietig & Claire Dupont, 2021. "Presidential leadership styles and institutional capacity for climate policy integration in the European Commission [Climate policy integration: A case of déjà vu?]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 40(1), pages 19-36.
    3. Jan Pollex, 2022. "Simultaneous Policy Expansion and Reduction? Tracing Dismantling in the Context of Experimentalist Governance in European Union Environmental Policy," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(3), pages 604-633, May.
    4. Ana Mar Fernández Pasarín & Nuria Font, 2022. "Unveiling Inconsistency: Consensus and Contestation along the Council–Comitology Cycle of EU Policy‐Making," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(2), pages 427-444, March.
    5. Jeffrey Rosamond & Claire Dupont, 2021. "The European Council, the Council, and the European Green Deal," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 9(3), pages 348-359.

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