The First Gas Directive Process

Herweg applies the modified multiple streams framework to the natural gas directive process, which took place between 1985 and 1998. Guided by the hypotheses derived in Chap. 2, she analyzes how the draft directive gained agenda status and how decision coupling resulted in policy change. Regarding agenda change, the prospects were poor initially because the problem stream had not been ripe when the agenda window opened. Herweg documents which changes had kept the agenda window open and made the problem stream ripe. It needed two decision windows in order to pass the draft directive. The first window closed because of a deadlock, and the second one opened due to a spillover from the electricity directive process, which was negotiated in parallel.