This is an empirical study on the causal relationship between economic growth and energy for 26 European countries in a multivariate panel framework over the period 1975-2009 using a two-way fixed effects model and including greenhouse gas emissions, capital, fossil energy consumption, Herfindahl index (political competition) and number of years the government chief executive stays in office (political stability) as independent variables in the model. Empirical results confirm bidirectional causality between growth and political stability, capital and political stability, capital and fossil energy consumption. Whether political stability favors the implementation of growth or leads to corruption demands further research. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.