The European Commission on Sustainable Development. A New Normative Power in Its Making?

Abstract

There is an on-going scholarly debate on European (dis)integration. Research (Cross, 2017; Jones et al., 2021; Vollard, 2018; Webber, 2018) has addressed how historical European crises often led to deepened European collaboration (Cross, 2017). The scholarly work has mentioned how severe crises in EU member states’ reluctance to stay as member-state or include new member-states, obstruction to integration in certain policy areas (the Euro, CFSP, SEM and Schengen), right-winged populism and anti-EU rhetoric in most cases not resulted in expected disintegration, but rather in new negotiations and policy-making. In such context, the European Commission plays an important role to promote European interest beyond individual member-states’ national interests. The climate change challenge provides one of the most contemporary global crisis. The Agenda 2050 on sustainable development is a bold and ambitious vision by the European Commission for a climate neutral Europe and may serve as a normative model globally. This study explores the recent role of the European Commission to promote sustainable development. It is argued that in times of serious European crises, the European Commission has acted as a normative power and transformed crises into a window of opportunity.

Keywords:

• Sustainable development
• European Union
• European Commission
• normative power

1. Introduction

Based on the international debate on climate change of the early 1990s and forward, the European Union with member-states (EU), have tried to pursue the role of international leader on sustainable development (Bäckstrand & Elgström, 2013; Parker & Karlsson, 2010). The international political process of the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement (COP21) and the 2015 special United Nations’ (UN) Summit, resulted in the EU declaration of a climate neutral Europe by 2050. The European Commission Communication A Clean Planet for all—A European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy was endorsed by the European Council in 2019 (Finnish Government, 2019).

The EU ambition on climate change and sustainable development has been contextualized by numerous of challenges. The power politics of China and Russia on security and economy, the rise of global emerging economic powers, the economic and financial recession, migration, Brexit and right-wing populism, have led to polarization within and between EU member-states questioning the overall international power of the EU.

The European Commission plays a unique and important formal role within the EU as the embedded driving engine to promote European norms and values beyond individual member-states’ interests. It is the role of the European Commission to act as the promoter of the European common good and in times of crises transform challenges into a window of opportunity (Kingdon, 1995). Research has addressed how many European crises from the 1950s until today been approached as possible windows of opportunity (Cross, 2017; Jones et al., 2021; Vollard, 2018; Webber, 2018). Agenda 2050 is in this context a bold and ambitious vision by the European Commission for a climate neutral Europe, but may also serve as a normative model for the rest of the world.

This study explores the recent role of the European Commission to promote an EU normative power on sustainable development. The study theoretically departures from traditional scholarly debates on the EU as normative power and shed lights on the embedded functional role of the European Commission as the expected driving engine to shape such European power. It further scrutinizes the (dis)ability of the European Commission to, in times of European crises, transform the climate change crisis into a window of opportunity for a sustainable Europe.

2. Normative Power Europe?

In the early 2000, scholars addressed the EU as a normative power in international politics. It was argued that the EU was an ‘idea force’ and how the Union characterized a new type of actor in the world (Manners, 2002). Such perception of the EU was based on decades of scholarly studies on the nature and role of Europe in international politics. Developed from a discussion in the 1970s, on the nature of European norms and values, scholars explored Europe’s ability to exist as one coherent community. Although the European Community widened in growing number of member-states and deepened through collaboration in more and more policy-areas, studies explored Europés actorness and capabilities to act with one voice (Hill, 1993; Sjöstedt, 1977). Such discussion explored how European decision-making on foreign and security policy could be understood, taking into account the lack of one sovereign European entity (Bull, 1982, p. 151; Hill, 1993; Kagan, 2003). Scholars addressed the European project as a hybrid of actors with international and supranational authority; a sui generis in international politics (Kagan, 2003; Sjursen, 2006; Whitman, 1998).

In the early 1970s, François Duchêne stated in his studies in favour of Europe as a coherent actor (Duchêne, 1972, 1973). He argued that Europe was a civilian actor of like-minded political and economic states that together acted as one coherent European actor (Smith, 2000; Whitman, 1998). The European integration project were based upon democratic and market-oriented like-minded states with a shared belief in certain European norms and values. Referring to Immanuel Kant’s old vision of the perpetual peace, Europe symbolized a strong and peaceful region of collaborating democracies and competitive market-economies sharing fundamental institutional norms and values (Kant, 1991/1795).

In the early 2000, Ian Manners and others conceptualized the notion of European actorness and cohesiveness in terms of normative power (Manners, 2006, 2002; Sjursen, 2006). It was argued that the EU symbolized a normative actor, including certain norms and values in democratic governance, the rule of law, common institutions and treaties guiding Europe towards a constitutional order. The notion of a normative Europe embedded five fundamental political norms: peace, liberty, democracy, the rule of law and human rights (The Treaty on European Union, 1992, article 6:1).

Based on the Treaty of the EU of 1992, the EU began to develop such shared norms in all external relations. The development cooperation policy of TEC (article 177), the common foreign and security provisions of the TEC (article 11), the Copenhagen criteria (membership requirements of 1993) and the European Neighbourhood Policy (2004) explicitly set out international relations based on democratic norms and values (Manners, 2002, p. 242). Today, such democracy clause is incorporated in the most recent treaty, the Lisbon Treaty:

The Union's action on the international scene shall be guided by, and designed to advance in the wider world, the principles which have inspired its own creation, development and enlargement. … The Union shall define and pursue common policies and actions, and shall work for a high degree of cooperation in all fields of international relations, in order to: (a) safeguard the common values, fundamental interests, security, independence and integrity of the Union; (b) consolidate and support democracy, the rule of law, human rights and international law… (The Lisbon Treaty, 2007, article 21)

The notion of Europés normative power also included a socioeconomic dimension. Manners, among others, highlighted shared European socioeconomic norms and values in social freedom, equality, solidarity and sustainability. One important norm of Europés normative power was stated to be the shared European stand on sustainable development referring to the importance of mitigating climate change and providing for a carbon free and greener economy.

The climate change challenges demand a great transformation in a low carbon industrial revolution (Newell, 2019, p. 25). In 2018, the special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) demanded immediate political action to limit the global average increase in temperature and reduce CO2 emissions. Scholars have come to stress the importance of ‘a vision and a plan that integrates solutions to the climate challenge’ (Beardsworth, 2020, p. 375) and how such work requires state action. It has been argued that the scale of climate change challenges and the limited time for counter-actions to save our planet demand coordinated actions from the most powerful actors (Beardsworth, 2020, p. 380). Beardsworth argues that it is the state that continues to hold the authority, power and fiscal and monetary capabilities to seek decisive and effective responses to climate change challenges. It is also the state that can promote and steer other social and economic actors towards common goals. In addition and importantly, it is the state that has the international ability to lead other states into effective international cooperation. Successful policies on climate change requires progressive state action from a group of powerful states (such as the EU) that commit to a climate leadership (Beardsworth, 2020, pp. 380–384).

The state-system has the dominating power and provides the regulative arena for coordinating domestic social and economic forces (Newell, 2019; Scoones et al., 2015). On the other hand, states have uneven power and ability to be the driving engine for sustainable development and may have different national economic interests. The level of capabilities (political and economic) and interests (due to production, technology and finance) may therefore vary from one state to another and from one global region to another (Newell, 2019, p. 33).

3. The EU and the European Commission on Sustainable Development

One often missing point in the climate change debate is the role of governance institutions in promoting sustainable development (Newell, 2019, p. 38). In Europe, the European Commission pursues the role to promote the overall interests of the EU in relation to member-states by proposing European laws, guarding EU treaties by ensuring that member-states follow EU legislation, acting as an executive body to handle policies and the annual budget and representing the EU in external relations to third party states. The European Commission is also in an institutional relation to a large group of EU member-states that pursue high level of capabilities. The role of the European Commission, as the driving engine within the EU, could therefore be very influential if member-states are convinced to act together on climate change.

The EU governance structure is based on a division of competences (Christiansen, 2002; Lisbon Treaty, 2007). The exclusive competences are set out in Article 3 on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and provides areas with EU supreme authority to legislate and adopt binding acts, leaving the Commission to initiate and implement laws and regulations. The shared competences, on the other hand, are expressed in Article 4 with areas where the EU and member states share authority to legislate and adopt legally binding acts. Finally the supporting competences are expressed in Article 6 with supreme authority to the individual member states and with only supporting role of the EU (Arnull & Chalmers, 2015; EUR-Lex: Distribution of competences, 2018).

The role of the European Commission within the EU-system is often underestimated in studies on EU politics (see Brickerton, 2015). Over the last decade, the European Commission has strengthened its authority (Nugent & Rhinard, 2019, 2016) over policymaking through ‘soft’ governance methods, in terms of benchmarking, recommendations and guidelines—the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) process. The OMC developed at the Lisbon meeting in 2000 to promote the EU to have an impact on convergence in those policy areas where individual member states showed differences and/or where the EU had limited competences. The OMC ensured member states’ main authority in a policy area, but allowing the EU to influence through the coordination of policies. The OMC process has left the Commission with increased authority through the monitoring and agenda-setting role in policy areas that previously were out of range (Radaelli, 2003; Regent, 2003).

Since 2014, under Jean-Claude Juncker’s Presidency, the Commission also re-organized into a more hierarchical structure of the College of Commissioners and with a stronger leadership (Dinan, 2016). Juncker stressed the importance of a political Commission, rather than technocratic, to engage policy-making and acquiring more policy power. The Commission also expressed its role to safeguard European integration from a broad perspective, addressing its normative function in a wide range of policy-areas such as economy, social and environmental ones that concerned the European public (Peterson, 2017).

In addition, the European Commission has also initiated and developed an ex ante surveillance system in the annual European Semester empowering the European governance structure (Begg, 2007). The European Semester provides the Commission a tool to assess member-states’ budgetary plan, macroeconomic challenges and structural reforms. The Semester provides the Commission the opportunity to provide member-states suggestions on country-specific reforms. The European Semester is also an important platform for surveillance and coordination of budgetary, fiscal, economic and social policies and functions as a forum for discussions between the Commission, other EU institutions and individual member-states. Over the last years, the European Semester has included a broader spectrum of policy-areas with social, economic, environmental and employment objectives with the purpose to strengthen coordination and convergence between EU member-states’ fiscal and economic policies. The Commission has stepped up is activities on providing recommendations for the Council to approve and then for each member-state to adopt into national legislation (Stevenson, 2019).

There is a large bulk of studies on public institutions as driving engines for change. These studies originally came from the economics stressing the importance of entrepreneurs as vital aspects of growing and dynamic societies (Carroll, 2017; Galadari, 2019). In more recent studies, scholars have addressed entrepreneurs from a multidisciplinary perspective beyond the economic arena in for example public entrepreneurs as innovative and creative actors within municipalities and public corporations, who seek innovations in the public sector (Baumol, 1990; Ostrom, 1965; Roberts & King, 1991). A limited number of studies have also shed light on political entrepreneurs, in politicians, public servants and/or public institutions (Holcombe, 2002; Scheingate, 2003; Schneider & Teske, 1992; Silander, 2020) and their role to challenge and change formal and informal institutions in day-to-day public activities (Morgan, 1986; North, 1990).

The dominating bulk of studies, however, has focused on policy entrepreneurs who introduce and implement innovations in the public sector (Kingdon, 1995; Roberts & King, 1991). ‘Policy entrepreneurs reveal themselves through their attempts to transform policy ideas into policy innovations and, hence, disrupt status quo policy arrangements’ (Mintrom, 2019, p. 307). Policy entrepreneurs could act both within and outside government institutions. In the studies on policy entrepreneurs, many scholars have focused on the process of framing problems (Baumgartner & Jones, 2009). The policy entrepreneur must be able to define problems and frame ideas on how to approach such problems to become successful in collecting support and coalitions. They must also pursue capabilities to develop and deploy strategies based on new innovative ideas to set the agenda for policy change (Baumgartner et al., 2009; Mintrom, 2019; Mintrom & Thomas, 2018).

The European Commission has the formal role of acting as a policy entrepreneur within the EU structures and with duty to represent European norms and values beyond individual member states’ interests. The European Commissions’ track-record of the 1990s and early 2000s shows how the Commission also has managed to set democratic, market-oriented and social issues on the official agenda making some scholars arguing for an EU normative power. More recently, the European Commission has also come to push for sustainable development within EU member-states. The EU began to push for sustainable development in the Treaty of Amsterdam with the objective to promote a European social-economic model of economic growth, price stability, full employment, social inclusiveness, along with protection of the environment. Since then, sustainable development has been mainstreamed into EU policies, legislations, norms and values and the European Commission has stressed its ambition to become a frontrunner to promote and protect sustainable development (European Commission, 2016, p. 3).

3.1. The Europe 2020: Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth

Already in 2010, after a few years of economic recession, the European Commission officially published Europe 2020—A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Europe 2020 was a strategy on how to promote and protect European growth, jobs and social integration in times of political, economic and social challenges (Walburn, 2010, p. 699). The Europe 2020 strategy stressed the importance of developing and consolidating a European sustainable social-market economy model (Budd, 2013, pp. 274–276; Gros & Roth, 2012, pp. 1–2). The European Commission called upon EU institutions, member-states, regional and local authorities, and the private sector to address the global socioeconomic crisis, by pushing for sustainable development in Europe (Wandel, 2016, p. 10). It required policy entrepreneurship from the European Commission in initiating new, bold and fundamental reforms in the formal and informal structures of the European economy. Only then, could Europe be protected from deeper recession and build a stronger and more prosperous Europe (Silander, 2019).

The position of the Commission was strengthened by member-states’ being occupied by the economic recession. With the new Commission under President Barroso, Europe 2020 was pushed for by a few General-Directorates that acted coherent and goal-oriented in promoting the new strategy (Copeland & James, 2014). The Commission would guide all EU actors, monitor reforms taken as well as officially provide recommendations, warnings and proposals to individual member states on how they could be successful on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in their specific national contexts (European Commission, 2010, pp. 26–27). Such initiative included identifying a broad range of existing challenges in Europe, providing heading targets to be met and convincing people, EU member-states and EU institutions to support the vision of a Europe based on smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (Armstrong, 2012; Barbier, 2011; Nugent & Rhinard, 2019, 2016).

First, smart growth referred to developing an economy based on knowledge and innovation with new technology as main driver of a future European economy. The European Commission highlighted how smart growth demanded improved education, research and innovations to provide a skilled workforce, new products and services. Europe also had to improve its competitiveness in the digital era by meeting the fast-expanding demands for communication technologies and by providing for more Internet-based goods and services (European Commission, 2010, pp. 9–10; Eurostat, 2018). Second, Europe 2020 also included the importance of sustainable growth, focusing on a necessary transition to a greener economy. Sustainable growth referred to building a European economy based on resource efficiency, greener technologies, a consumer culture that valued resource efficiency and a greener low-carbon economy. Europe had to continue striving for becoming a global green economic actor by promoting green technologies to safeguard resource efficiency. Such green transformation of the European economy would result in fulfilled climate change goals, with significantly decreased emissions, but would also lead to a new environmentally friendly economy of new innovations, products and services that would provide for a growing economy and social progress (European Commission, 2010, pp. 12–13; Eurostat, 2017; p. 15). Third and finally, the Europe 2020 strategy also referred to inclusive growth with a high-employment economy providing economic, social and territorial cohesion and integration. The European Commission aimed at reforms to empowering Europeans through greater job opportunities, lifelong training, improved education and social protection from poverty and marginalization. . The European Commission outlined the challenges of demographic changes, high level of unemployment, economic and social marginalization of women, older workers and young people and discrimination for certain groups in the European society (European Commission, 2010, p. 16; Eurostat, 2017, p. 15).

3.2. The European Commission on Next Steps for a Sustainable European Future

In 2016, the European Commission launched the Communication Next steps for a sustainable European future—European action for sustainability. The Communication set out the objective to transform the EU into a sustainable actor in international relations (European Commission, 2016). The European Commission acknowledged that Europe, compared to many other places in the world, had a beneficial starting position to implement sustainable reforms (European Commission, 2016, p. 2). The Commission also addressed serious European challenges in unemployment, aging population, climate change, pollution, unsustainable energy, migration, inequalities, healthcare shortages and resource inefficiency (European Commission, 2016, p. 2). Reforms had to be taken through cross-cutting projects, sectoral policies and initiatives, based on the previous records in the EU Sustainable Development Strategy of 2001, revised in 2006, and reviewed in 2009.

The Communication of 2016 set out 10 sustainable development priorities between 2014-2019: 1. Jobs, growth and investment—boosting investment and creating jobs; 2. Digital single market—bringing down barriers to unlock online opportunities; 3. Energy union and climate—making energy more secure, affordable and sustainable; 4. Internal market—creating a deeper and fairer internal market; 5. A deeper and fairer economic and monetary union—combining stability with fairness and democratic accountability; 6. A balanced and progressive trade policy to harness globalization—supporting open trade without sacrificing Europe’s standards; 7. Justice and fundamental rights—stepping up cooperation on security and justice in the EU and preserving the rule of law; 8. Migration—moving towards a European agenda on migration; 9. A stronger global actor—strengthening the global role of Europe and finally 10. Democratic change—making the EU more transparent and democratically accountable

On January 30th of 2019, the European Commission presented a reflection paper Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030 (European Commission, 2019). The European Commission once again acknowledged the importance of sustainable development and presented ideas on how Europe could become a leading actor on sustainable development in the world. The Communication declared the EU ambition to be a frontrunner in promoting and protecting sustainable development and how it required collaboration (European Commission, 2019, Foreword). As argued by the Commission:

‘No one state or nation can effectively deal with these challenges alone. We need the scale of the European Union, which—when unified and determined—is a global force to be reckoned with. (European Commission, 2019, Foreword).

The Communication highlighted the alarming challenge of growing nationalism in Europe. In a time of climate change challenges and the demand for transforming the European economy to become greener, smarter and more inclusive, European trends of nationalism, isolationism and anti-European integration rhetoric and the new negative idea of ‘my country first’ had to be taken seriously (European Commission, 2019, p. 8). Such political tendencies throughout Europe and the world could lead to disrupt international cooperation on sustainable development and in Europe political tension and conflicts. Therefore, the Commission urged the EU member-states to step up its work towards a sustainable Europe as well as a normative power, for global sustainable development (European Commission, 2019, p. 9).

3.3. The European Commission on Agenda 2050: A European Green Deal

On December 11, 2019, the European Commission presented the Communication The European Green Deal as a guiding roadmap for further promoting sustainable development. The Commission highlighted the ambition to become the leading actor in the world and the first climate neutral continent in 2050. The Commission stressed climate change and related climate and environmental challenges as fundamental to mankind, but also how such global and Europe challenge could become a window of opportunity for European transformation and progress (European Commission, 2019). The Commission declared Agenda 2050 as the roadmap towards making Europe to a climate neutral European continent. Again, the Commission called upon all European actors in the political, economic and civil society to commit to such European path and come together to transform into a prosperous and cleaner Europe. Agenda 2050 included several crucial strategic areas in energy efficiency, deployment of renewables, clean and safe mobility to achieve a climate neutral Europe (European Commission, 2018, pp. 9–16).

First, Agenda 2050 addressed the nexus between and the contemporary challenges of climate change and socioeconomic growth by highlighting the strategic importance of innovations and technological solutions to become a dynamic and greener economy The Commission specifically urged for re-directing private capital to sustainable investments, setting up one classification system on sustainable economic activities, regulating and legislating on low-carbon benchmarks, establishing a carbon pricing system, taxing environmental impacts and increasing levels of investments in research and innovation to promote zero-carbon solutions for a greener economy (European Commission Press Release, 2018, pp. 16–19).

Second, Agenda 2050 also set out how a greener economy will bring new jobs and employment opportunities, but how such sustainable development in the economic sector will, in the short run, provide challenges and changes in societies that have been dependent on coal- and carbon-intensive growth. Europés industrialized regions will see fundamental structural changes and such transformation will impact societies and citizens. It is therefore crucial for the EU to be ready to mitigate negative effects on citizens and societies when developing into a green economy. Such mitigation should include increased support to social protection systems, education, training and lifelong learning.

Third and finally, Agenda 2050 also shed lights on the importance of including and empowering European citizens in the transformation into a greener economy. The European Commission stresses that citizens are consumers and therefore powerful actors in the process of sustainable development into a net-zero greenhouse gas economy. Consumer may, through purchasing sustainable products and services, put strategic pressure on companies and industries to be part of the climate-adjusted changes (European Commission, 2018, p. 23).

4. Final Discussion: Remaining Challenges to a Normative Power

This study has explored the role of the European Commission to push the EU to become a normative power on sustainable development. The climate change crisis led scholars to address the long-term debate within studies on international politics of the EU as a coherent normative power or not. Scholars have for decades argued that previous European crises led to deepened European collaboration and how the EU has developed due to crisis management from EU institutions and member-states. In times of such crises, the functional role of the European Commission, as the expected driving engine for the European common good, is extremely important to explore. This study has scrutinized the (dis)ability of the European Commission to transform the climate change crisis into a possible window of opportunity for a sustainable Europe. It is obvious that the European Commission has a clear ambition to act as a driving engine for sustainable development. Sustainable development is an important norm within the EU-system of governance and is pushed for by the Commission in all recent strategic Communications such as Europe 2020 and Agenda 2050. The Europe 2020—A Strategy for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth was a strategic response to the global recession of 2008 and forward and called for a European partnership between EU institutions, member states, regional and local authorities and the private sector to address the economic and social crisis. The European partnership aimed at promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. In 2020, almost every objective set out in the Europe 2020 strategy has been fulfilled. It required serious transformative reforms within EU member-states (Eurostat, 2018; Silander, 2019).

Now, the EU faces further reforms to meet the objectives set out in Agenda 2050. The role of the European Commission must be the same as in previous work for Europe 2020. The EU Commission plays a crucial role within the EU if the EU should become normative, sustainable power in 2050. There are, however, both economic and political hindrances that are addressed in numerous of academic studies (see Borghetto & Franchino, 2010; Gros & Roth, 2012; Makarovič et al., 2014; Tusińska, 2016). One economic challenge is the long-term economic recession that hit Europe in 2008 and forward. The crisis challenged the EU with individual member states, regions and communities and the socioeconomic damage is still troublesome across Europe in high unemployment rates and social marginalization in many EU member-states. The economic crisis required immediate political and financial assistance to EU member-states from other EU member states, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The crisis also highlighted the challenge of Europe’s economic structural weakness in a low average growth rate, low levels of investments in research and development, limited digitalization and a weak business environment with serious obstacles in finding risk capital. The economic crisis shed light on the challenge of moving away from the narrow focus on development in terms of growth and jobs by addressing rising public concerns over clean energy, climate change and sustainable use of resources that allow Europe to transform into a sustainable carbon-free economy. In times of economic dire straits, rising nationalism is also a major concern for the European Commission. A decade of economic recession has led to increased economic nationalism and less interest in helping out among member-states. This is a concern for the Commission that seeks solutions beyond individual member-states’ interests.

Another challenge often mentioned in the literature is political in the complex system of EU governance. The Commission has continued to call for stronger cohesiveness within the Union to act as a one social and economic actor with improved steering and coordination of member-states policies and reforms. It has also been argued that the EU member states must implement necessary policies to promote sustainable development (Becker et al., 2016, pp. 1011–1012), but how it requires to overcome member-states’ differences in political cultures and disparities regarding socioeconomic resources, know-how, productivity and levels of growth. There has also been discussions on the capacity of the EU to implement coherent actions to avoid member states’ safeguarding their own national interests (Pagliacci, 2017, pp. 601–604, 615; Zaucha et al., 2014). These economic and political hindrances are real and must be overcome by the European Commission if its role as provider of the European common good in a sustainable continent should become true in 2050.