An Ex-ante Appraisal of the Possible Implementation of the Proposed Directive on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in England and Greece

Abstract

Two years have passed since the publication of the latest Proposal for a Council Directive on the assessment of certain plans and programmes on the environment. Current discussions at the European Council concerning its amended draft, indicate that there is well-founded optimism for its enactment in the near future. In England, where a more limited form of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) has already been incorporated into the planning system, suppor t for the adoption of the proposed directive would be expected. In the southern part of the European Union (EU), countries with different economic, planning and geographical characteristics, such as Greece, also have strong reasons to pursue the enactment of this type of environmental legislation: despite the current economic crisis, and according to a certain viewpoint as a result of it, the initiation of preventive environmental protection tools a is now needed more than evero (V. Stogiannis, pers. comm.). What then is the rationale behind both governments’ reluctance to adopt the Proposal? The attempt to answer the above question provided motivation for the research presented in this paper, which appraises the methodological, institutional and political consequences of the enactment of the proposed directive. This will partly explain the underlying hostility of the British and Greek governments’ stance concerning adoption of the proposed directive, and offer an insight into the dif® culties likely to be encountered with its implementation. The conceptual background in terms of de® nition and discussion of the relevant terms used throughout this text will be discussed in the following section. The proposed Directive’ s rationale and provisions follow, and details of the methodology used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data are then presented. The paper proceeds to expose the ® ndings of the local authority survey in England, the