Introduction

Abstract

Although two of the three original treaties on which the European Union (EU) is based explicitly concerned sources of energy, the EU and its predecessor institutions have exercised relatively little com-petence in the area of energy policy over the years. During the past decade, however, the EU has arguably made unprecedented strides toward the creation of a common energy policy, as exemplified by the European Council’s adoption of an ambitious and relatively com-prehensive energy action plan based on the European Commission’s communication “An Energy Policy for Europe” in 2007 and the sub-sequent approval by the Council and the European Parliament of a number of concrete measures to implement the plan. In late 2009, energy policy per se became a formal competence of the EU with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.