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Philipp Thaler
Title
PhD
Last Name
Thaler
First name
Philipp
Email
philipp.thaler@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 3981
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1 - 10 of 17
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: Political GeographyVolume: 94
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PublicationGovernance through Real-Time Compliance: The Supranationalisation of European External Energy PolicyMember States have retained core competences in external energy policy since the beginning of European integration. Even the new ‘energy chapter’ in the Lisbon Treaty safeguards national prerogatives. Contrasting this trend, we show that throughout the past decade this national stronghold has been eroding and replaced by supranational oversight. Reviewing energy-related negotiations of Poland and Lithuania with Russia and new regulation on intergovernmental agreements, we demonstrate how the Commission gained control over Member States’ external energy relations. We explain the expansion of supranational authority with spillover pressures equipping the Commission with new procedural prerogatives. Central to this development was the institutionalisation a novel supranational instrument we call ‘real-time compliance’. The term denotes the prompt application of soft and coercive means, ensuring compliance of energy agreements between Member States and third countries with EU rules. This expansion of supranational powers through procedural competences has implications for debates on European energy policy and European integration.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of European Public PolicyVolume: 28Issue: 2
Scopus© Citations 11 -
PublicationFollowing, Challenging, or Shaping: Can Third Countries Influence EU Energy Policy?( 2019-03)
;Jevnaker, TorbjørgType: journal articleJournal: Politics and GovernanceVolume: 7Issue: 1 -
PublicationThe European Commission and the European Council: Coordinated Agenda setting in European energy policy( 2016-07-19)The post-Maastricht era is characterised by a growing importance of the European Council in the integration of various policy-fields. In this respect, EU energy policy is no exception. The fragmentation in three coexisting strands and external shocks has emphasised the need for intergovernmental coordination and oversight. This new intergovernmentalism, exemplified prominently by the recent move towards Energy Union, is surprising in two respects. On the one hand, energy is an area of diverse member state interests that repeatedly thwarted ambitious plans for deepening European integration. On the other hand, the European Council’s new intergovernmentalism challenges the classical role of the European Commission in the field that was rooted in its single market competence. However, rather than implying a shift in the interinstitutional balance, developments of the past decade reveal increased cooperation between the two key institutions and flexible working mechanisms through which the Commission has retained substantial policy initiative capacities.Type: journal articleJournal: Journal of European IntegrationVolume: 38Issue: 5
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PublicationType: journal articleJournal: European Energy JournalVolume: 5Issue: 4
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PublicationType: conference paper
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PublicationEuropeanization of the Swiss Energy System(Dike Verlag, 2020)Type: bookVolume: 13
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PublicationShaping EU Foreign Policy Towards Russia: Improving Coherence in External RelationsOffering a comprehensive and structured analysis of the reasons why the EU lacks external coherence towards Russia, this book presents important new insights to the topic beyond conventional institutionalist arguments. Philipp Thaler utilises key cases in external energy and human rights policies to highlight the on-going difficulties in creating a coherent position, despite the EU’s formally stated objective to achieve this. Providing new avenues to understanding the meaning of coherence, the book explores why this frequently used term is undefined and why it became a guiding principle in EU foreign policy. Thaler includes a thorough overview of how the EU’s institutional architecture and successive reforms have been designed to improve external coherence, and highlights elements that impede this aim. Placing the challenges in the EU–Russia relationship into their historical context, the book demonstrates that the quest for coherence is not a marginal normative claim, but practically incorporated into the EU’s foreign policy. Timely and inquisitive, this is a critical read for European studies and international relations scholars. It will be particularly helpful for those focusing on energy governance and EU foreign policy.
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PublicationThe Role of Switzerland in European Electricity Governance: Shaper, Follower, or Outsider?This chapter explores the political influence of Switzerland as a non-EU country in European electricity governance. We argue that the influence of non-EU countries depends on their access to European governance institutions and their structural power resources. We further posit that the type of structural power resources circumscribes the specific areas of influence. The empirical analysis assesses these variables qualitatively based on interview and other primary data. First, it shows that Switzerland has relatively high access to important European governance bodies. Second, it reveals that Switzerland possesses structural power in serving as a European transit hub for electricity and an important source of technical expertise. Third, it confirms our theoretical expectation that Switzerland acts as a shaper in European electricity governance. Swiss influence is especially seen in matters related to grid management and cross-border electricity trade. Limitations to Swiss influence are often rooted in the legal principles of the EU internal market. Our findings qualify claims about a marginalization of Switzerland in European electricity governance. At the same time, we highlight uncertainties resulting from the present lack of an electricity agreement between Switzerland and the EU. Our chapter recommends Swiss policy-makers to strive for viable forms of energy cooperation with the EU and to strengthen the transit function and technical expertise of the country.
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PublicationCREST: Schweizer Energiepolitik zwischen Bund, Kantonen und GemeindenThis video explains the research at IPW-HSG and EGI-HSG on multi-level energy governance in Switzerland. It discusses the roles of the federal, cantonal, and municipal levels in the Swiss energy transition. This research is part of the activities of SCCER CREST (Swiss Competence Center for Energy Research), which is financially supported by Innosuisse under Grant No. KTI. 1155000154Type: digital resource