Europeanization of green industrial policy (EUGRIP): how the EU’s new regulatory, fiscal and governance capacities shape decarbonisation in Eastern and Central Europe

The EUGRIP project studies the national effects of the EU’s green industrial policy in East Central Europe (ECE) as the EU’s “most unlikely” region of decarbonization. Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, it analyses how the European Commission’s stepped-up regulatory, fiscal and governance capacities since the pandemic have shaped decarbonization in five different ECE states (PL, RO, EE, LT, SK) known for carbon-intensive economies, energy dependence on Russia, and economic and security exposure to the war in Ukraine. Building on the latest literature on EU economic governance and comparative political economy, the project argues that the effects of the EU’s “new climate governance” depend on national “uses of Europe”, state-business development coalitions and perceptions of European security. Besides theoretical novelty, the project promises timely advice for European and national policymakers on how to speed up decarbonisation by creating new green coalitions.