Anna Barnwell

ES334 Project: Implementation and Compliance of
Envrionmental Policy in the European Union

 :

 :

"Understanding the diversity between countries and how this can systematically impact environmental policy implementation is very relevant to decision-making at European level. Once this diversity is taken into account, it can also be very instructive to examine differences in performance and how they relate to the different types of responses adopted at the country level. The timing of policy action and the level of ambition in setting national targets and objectives can also substantially influence apparent performance." --The European Environment: State and Outlook 2005

What is Europeanization?

In the past ten years, the assumption that the European Union’s effect on domestic policy and politics would have been met with reservation. Today however, the emergence of Europe as a global leader in areas such as environmental policy has brought attention to the success of the EU’s ability to implement policy among its members. Surging interest has resulted in research that delves into questions of compliance within the EU. What combination of domestic and European forces and factors results in the most effective policy implementation and compliance? The complex nature of this answer has sparked the research that follows. This paper closely addresses the correlation between policy and compliance. In theory, this relationship is straight forward: how well a member state is able to implement European policy into national policy is directly related to the degree of divergence between the current status quo of the nation and the new policy standards. Even here, questions remain unanswered. What kind of “fit” results in the highest level of adaptation to new policy? What are other factors in the process of implementation? To answer these and other questions, I will examine previous works and theories about Europeanization of environmental policy. Four countries-- two historically progressive countries (Germany and Sweden), and two “laggard” countries (Italy and Spain)—will be compared in their response to the climate change regime, primarily the Kyoto Protocol, in order to more intimately examine how the level of misfit is related to compliance of the adopted policy.

Environmental Policy in the European Union: Historical Context:

Environmental regulation in the European Union had not always been an original aim of the Community. Such ideals as the precautionary principle, preventative action and assumptions that the polluter pays have not always been fundamental in Europe’s values. In fact, before the Single European Act of 1987, directives adopted could only pass if they could be justified in terms of the common market. It was not until the SEA that Qualified Majority Voting and the use of the cooperation procedure in the Parliament (Sbragia, 2004).The final success, however, came in 1992 from the Maastricht Treaty or the Treaty on the European Union which allowed QMV to be used for all environmental policy, even if it was not connected with trade harmonization. From 1989 to 1991 the EU passed more environmental legislation than in the previous 20 years combined. Whether the increased rate of directive and regulation adoption implies that domestic policy effectively implemented all legislation is a matter addressed when looking at overall compliance level of the member states. The next section will address the theories of compliance: measurement of compliance, causal mechanisms and theoretical research.