The COVID-19 pandemic and the EU

The article examines the implications held by the EU\u27s response to the COVID-19 pandemic for the green transition as set by the European Green Deal. It distinguishes changes in: (a) the use of policy instruments(b) governance principlesand (c) the prioritising of policy goals as expressed via the conceptual framework of orders of change. The article assesses the extent of these changes as well as the patterns and regional variations among EU Member States, together with the Commission\u27s role in pushing for preferential energy policy choices and encouraging the Member States\u27 ambitions. The analysis shows the EU Energy Union governance framework was promoting the EU\u27s climate targets\u27 full integration into the EU\u27s energy transition policy instruments (first order of change) even before the European Green Deal. Still, the EU\u27s response to the COVID-19 crisis created strong financial and policy leverage to accelerate the green transition and gave an opportunity to close the gap between less ambitious and more ambitious EU countries. Many countries traditionally reliant on EU funds seized this opportunity, demonstrating the role of changed governance principles (the second order of change). However, the crisis has had an evolutionary impact, not a revolutionary one. While coherence between the energy and climate goals remains high, the EU\u27s energy transition is falling short in fully integrating biodiversity (which would constitute a full paradigmatic, third-order change), despite this being an essential component of the EU\u27s green transition