Integration of electricity markets throughout the European Economic Area - the energy policy paradigm versus current conditions and challenges across the Baltic Sea region
Integration of electricity markets throughout the European Economic Area - the energy policy paradigm versus current conditions and challenges across the Baltic Sea region

Summary/Abstract: This paper scrutinises current energy policy directions promoted within the European Union (EU), and thus also in the European Economic Area (EEA), especially in respect of further electricity markets integration through increasing cross‑border capacities. It first discusses that while efforts towards a single European electricity market are not new to the EU and the EEA Member States, they have recently intensified given the current and prospective energy security concerns coming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the related war. Special attention is given to the EU's electricity market reform of 2024, representing yet another signal for tilting the energy policy paradigm towards deeper integration and renewable energy development - motivated by resilience and energy security challenges. The first section of the research reviews legal acts relating to the single internal energy market and integration of electricity markets throughout the EU and the EEA. The second section focuses on analysing cross‑border electricity trade and underlying physical cross‑frontier infrastructure in order to obtain a snapshot overview of electricity market integration throughout the EU and the EEA, with special consideration given to countries of the Baltic Sea region. The final section features a concise case study on the causes and circumstances of Norway's recent growing political resistance to the integrationist approach of the EU energy directives and alerts that these developments may have negative repercussions on the region, including Poland. The Norwegian case is presented as a signal that realism‑based approaches may be taking over energy policy.

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