Dynamics in national agri-environmental policy implementation under changing EU policy priorities: Does one size fit all (original) (raw)
Related papers
EU Environmental Policy Making and Implementation:Changing Processes and Mixed Outcomes
2015
The European Union (EU) is an influential actor in environmental politics and policy-making across its 28 member states, around its periphery, and globally. Building on a diverse literature, this article examines European environmental policy-making and implementation since the 1970s. The first section discusses the evolution of the EU legal basis through treaty reforms for making environmental policy and seeking sustainable development. This is followed by a review of main actors in EU environmental politics and discussion of EU environmental policymaking and implementation. Subsequent sections assess EU environmental politics in the context of membership enlargements and examine EU international engagement with multilateral fora and other countries. The article presents data on environmental policy and ecological impacts within and outside the EU and summarizes main arguments about environmental policy in European integration and sustainable development, providing suggestions for ...
The need for adaptability in EU environmental policy design and implementation
European Environment, 2001
Is the application of the EU environmentally policy satisfying in the field? In particular, are the environmental objectives set in the directives met? This paper explores the issue of the effectiveness of the European environmental policy. It is based on the results of a recent study, which has consisted in evaluating the implementation of three pieces of EU environmental legislation in France, Germany, Netherlands and United Kingdom. The legislation studied was Directive 89/429 regulating atmospheric emissions from domestic waste incinerators, Directive 88/609 dealing with SO 2 and NO x emissions from large combustion plants (LCPs) and Council Regulation 1836/93 concerning the voluntary participation of industrial companies in an EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). The result of the study suggests that simply posing the problem in terms of
lup.wur.nl
European integration has consequences for environmental planning in the European Union. Recent evaluations of the European Commission show that implementation of environmental directives proves to be a challenging task for the responsible authorities. This paper discusses the relation between the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and the Birds and Habitats Directives in The Netherlands. Studies from this member state show that legal and procedural aspects of planning and decision making gain the most attention and that environmental goals are fading into the background. We study the integration of the two directives from a policy and practice perspective and discuss the difficulties that arise in the implementation process. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
This paper is looking at European environmental policy from the "second image reversed" perspective. Specifically, it investigates the conditions under which we see administrative change in the EU member states as a consequence of the implementation of EU environmental policies. We adopt a comparative research design -analyzing the impact of four environmental policies in Britain and Germany -to trace the conditions for adaptation in the context of different administrative structures and traditions. As a starting hypothesis we adopt the institutionalist expectation that administrative adaptation depends on the "goodness of fit" between European policy requirements and existing national structures and procedures. On the basis of our empirical evidence we further refine the notion of "goodness of fit" by looking at the level of embeddedness of national structures in the overall administrative tradition from a static and dynamic perspective. Furthermore, we develop an explanatory framework that links sociological and rational choice variants of institutional analysis.
An Analysis on Transition Through Common European Environmental Policy and ETS
The European Union (EU) is a salient player in the politics of climate change, operating as an authoritative regional actor that influences policy-making at both national and international levels. The EU’s Climate Change policies are subjected to multiple pressures arising from the domestic policies of its twenty-seven member states and the international policies of non-EU states it negotiates with. The EU has been continuing to play a noteworthy role in both designing European climate change legislation and influencing national climate change activities within its Member States. It is important to identify the conditions under which the EU ETS has been constructed and why it has been chosen as an instrument to address the issue of climate warming. To analyze the context, it is also important to identify the circumstances which lead to constitute Climate Change Law and ETS policies. In this report, I will explain EU policy changes including union based initiatives, nation-states reactions and international impacts of the transformation process towards EU climate change policies.
New Directions in the Effective Enforcement of European Law, 2016
The volume of EU environmental legislation and the serious consequences for humans and nature alike in case of non-compliance has made the issue of the enforcement of EU environmental law a top priority for the EU. The EU commitment to better and more effective enforcement of environmental legislation is all the more urgent because the EU is obliged by virtue of international law under the Aarhus Convention to ensure that the public has effective means to enforce EU environmental law through ensuring ‘wide access to justice’. This chapter first identifies the shortcomings of the system of centralised enforcement of enviromental law. It then analyses the gaps to effective decentralised enforcement before the national courts. The chapter then considers some ‘new’ modes of governance in the enforcement of environmental law, namely the use of ‘soft law’ and networks, and evaluate their role towards creating a more effective enforcement regime for EU environmental law. This chapter shows that networks and guidance documents represent a promising addition to the more traditional instruments. However, further academic attention should be devoted to explore their actual effectiveness (and the conditions for their effectiveness) to promote a higher level of compliance with EU environmental law.
Is the trajectory of European Union environmental policy less certain?
Environmental Politics
The core themes and research questions of this volume, centred on the nature of environmental policy change in the European Union (EU), are laid out. An original heuristic framework to capture different dimensions, mechanisms and processes of policy change is presented. In order to contextualise the current situation, where EU policy scope has reached maturity and faces an uncertain future trajectory, EU environmental politics is divided into particular eras, looking closely at the nature of change in each period. This volume interrogates the extent to which change has occurred, the conditions or context within which it did/did not take place and the implications arising from stasis or change. The contributions to the volume are introduced and placed into the context of the broader trajectory of EU environmental policy.
New Regulatory Approaches in ‘Greening’ EU Policies
European Law Journal, 2002
European environmental policy has been long characterised by traditional regulatory policy approaches. In recent years, however, the EU has begun experimenting with new forms of governance. In particular, the task of environmental policy integration (EPI) into sectoral policies has invited more¯exible and participatory regulatory forms, emphasising at the same time the role of procedural guidance. This article traces the history of the EPI principle and links its eectiveness to speci®c governance characteristics. It argues that eective EPI is dependent on a combination of political leadership and public participation. While both terms appear in the EU's vocabulary on sustainable development and new governance, the EU is only slowly ®nding the appropriate forms to put them into practice. Coming from a tradition of governance by political e Âlites, EU policy-makers are still relying too naõ Èvely on the mobilisation capabilities of societal groups and on the power of`good ideas'.
Broader, Deeper and Greener: European Union Environmental Politics, Policies, and Outcomes
Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 2015
The European Union (EU) is influential in environmental politics and policy-making across its 28 member states, around its periphery, and globally. Building on a diverse analytical and empirical literature, this article's seven sections each highlights important research findings and outcomes from more than four decades of EU environmental governance. These include (a) a substantial transfer of legal authority from member states to the supranational level; (b) a growing involvement of EU bodies, advocacy groups, and civil society in regional goal-setting and decision-making; (c) the development of elaborate governance systems and mechanisms for making, implementing, and enforcing policy; (d) EU exercise of considerable influence over countries seeking membership before and after joining the Union; (e) increased EU participation and influence in international fora; (f) a mixed record of uneven implementation and varied environmental outcomes in Europe and across the world; and (g...