Energy and in particular electricity is an indispensible foundation of modern society, and as a shared competence between the European Union and Member States represents a critical and dynamic area of politics, policy and regulation - indeed, the energy sector was a foundation of the precursor of the European Union, the European Coal and Steel Community. To accelerate and ensure a rapid green transition to a net zero Europe by 2050 or even earlier, the energy sector is crucial. In particular, the electricity sector will play a key role through comprehensive electrification  through the deployment of renewable energy sources, and all this is to be driven on the basis of a market-based framework of progressive liberalisation, ever-faster integration of markets and deployment of renewables, and the transformation of consumers into active consumers to take part in the green transformation – as encapsulated by the Clean Energy Package.

As a common goal of the European Union while a shared competence, energy policy and the decarbonisation targets (as well as market design framework) are implemented through a number of EU Directives that must be transposed and EU Regulations with direct and immediate effect, so as to take into account Member State specifics while ensuring a minimum level of harmonisation across the Union. And, of course, as electricity flows across borders, so too the impact of EU-level electricity legislation reaches beyond to the wider European energy landscape, with sequential (and somewhat adapted) implementation also in the Contracting Parties of the Energy Community.

The overall trajectory of the EU energy regulatory framework as one that drives the green transition on the basis of energy markets incentivising investments and ever-deeper integration of national markets into a single European energy market has been significantly impaced by the energy crisis. Faced with (socio-)political pressure to respond, and respond fast, individual Member States have enacted measures that would have been unthinkable just a few years earlier due to their divergence from long-held EU principles. These national level measures significantly influenced the course of the EU-level policy response to the energy crisis and the currently valid temporary crisis measures’ framework – which, in turn, is influencing national level measures.

The whirlwind of crisis interventions into market functioning as a result of rollercoaster price volatility and price spikes reaching unprecedented levels has also opened the wider discussion of whether the fundamental market design of the European electricity market needs to be changed. While the question of market reform or enhancement has been open since 2021, with the proposed Fit for 55 package to enhance the framework established by the Clean Energy Package and increase decarbonisation ambitions by 2030, the energy crisis has reshaped the conversation, with some questioning the fundamental design of the European electricity market – and most recently, the European Commision has begun its process of preparation of a legislative proposal to amend the Clean Energy Package. How are the proposals aligned with the long-term trajectory of the EU’s goals and policy frameworks so far and to what extent will the crisis-induced temporary measures be made permanent?

The course presents a three-part overview of the EU’s regulatory framework for the electricity market, so as to provide participants with an overall understanding of the key ‚underlying’ framework as has developed over the past two decades, the deviations therefrom during the energy crisis, and the convergence of both into the very wide and complex discussion on future energy market design, thereby equipping them with the knowledge to understand and follow future developments in this debate at a once-in-a-generation turning point in EU energy landscape.