EU External Energy Policy in Natural Gas: A Case of Neofunctionalist Integration? ZEI Discussion Paper C241/2017
Journal: Archive of European Integration (AEI) (University of Pittsburgh)
Year: 2017

The energy policy of the European Commission has deepened integration of EU natural gas matters. Energy cooperation at EU level and policy mechanisms for cooperation with third countries are harmonized to a large extent. The author concludes that integration strategies of the EU Commission follow the spillover-logic as set out by the theory of Neofunctionalism - a concept first developed by Ernst Bernard Haas to explain the post-war creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the E