Anna Barnwell: es 334 project

Main Research Question: The goal of this research project is to examine the effects of the European Union’s environmental legislation upon the domestic environmental policy of the Member States. This project questions the definition of compliance, incentives for such compliance, and whether having a larger administrative body such as the EU affects domestic environmental policy beneficially.

Case Study Selection

Cases were chosen based on two factors: a) Initiation as a member state b) level of environmental sustainablity. Pairs were then chosen as 1) Germany and Italy--being the elder member states and 2) Sweden and Spain--the newer member states. Brief overviews of each country's current stance on the environment follows here.(The European Environment State Outlook 2005).

	GERMANY • Original member and importantly progressive member state. • Fast economic development has come with increasing urbanisation and intensive use of resources. At the same time environmental management has been strengthened, leading to improvements in protection of natural areas, waste management, water treatment and use of renewable energy.
	SWEDEN • Member state in 1995 • Sweden shows very good progress and performance towards maintaining and improving its environment. Its 15 environmental quality objectives continue to help improve and strengthen cooperation between different sectors and stakeholders in society and to promote environmental integration in agriculture, forestry, energy and transport. However, additional effort is required to meet the ambitious environmental objectives and goals that have been set.
	ITALY • One of the original members of the European Community • Italy shows relatively good environmental performance and average progress across the scorecard indicators. Reducing GHG emissions to be on track with Kyoto targets is posing a challenge. In common with other southern European countries, priorities for Italy include improving the efficiency of its irrigation system in order to reduce water stress from agriculture.
	SPAIN • Member state in 1986 • Fast economic development has come with increasing urbanisation and intensive use of resources. At the same time environmental management has been strengthened, leading to improvements in protection of natural areas, waste management, water treatment and use of renewable energy. Spain also faces specific problems linked to its climatic and geographic characteristics: fires, droughts, erosion and flooding.