Understanding the European Green Deal: A narrative policy framework approach

Abstract

The 2008 global financial crisis, climate change, and, ultimately, the COVID pandemic have once again challenged the European Union's (EU) capacity to find effective policy solutions to common problems. The article investigates how the novel policy narrative underpinning the European Green Deal (EGD), a new EU growth strategy aimed at transforming the EU into a fair and prosperous society with no net greenhouse gas emissions, has evolved into concrete policy commitments. By combining the theoretical insights of the narrative policy framework and the assumptions of constructivist approaches to the study of politics, we focus on the relevance of strategic narratives for the understanding of power dynamics related to the approval of the EGD' center piece—the European Climate Law. Our findings show how, by effectively using legitimacy arguments, the European Commission and the Parliament managed to secure a swift approval of the Regulation.