Sweden political process

Many risk, evaluative, practical and political factors enter each stage of the RRS process (Figure 5.4). In addition to the socio-economic impacts of a regulatory action varying across the EU, the interviewees described that the level and detail of information necessary to justify a decision politically varies significantly between Member States, confirming the analysis of the different national approaches of France, Germany, Sweden and the UK in Chapter 4. 

It was also apparent that the first cap of 25.2 Mt (May 2003) was not very ambitious. It was based on historic emissions, with a number of add-ons, like projected increases in process emissions, provisions for data uncertainty and provisions for new entrants. This generous cap was later reduced to the final 22.9 Mt after political negotiations. The reason for this may have been that the FlexMex2 Commission was afraid that a lower cap would put Swedish industry at a disadvantage compared to that of other Member States. In some aspects this turned out to be true. When the other NAPs were presented, Sweden s allocation to the energy sector and especially to new entrants was much stricter than in other Member States. 

---