The European Union and Environmental Policy

Abstract

Although manifestly not a state, the European Union (EU) has evolved from its origins as a trade-based economic organization to become a supra-national political body that regulates across multiple policy sectors in a state-like manner. Nowhere is this regulatory influence more pronounced than in relation to the environment, where the EU now effectively determines the national policy of its member states in areas as diverse as air quality, water pollution, habitat protection, and genetically modified organisms. Countries outside of the EU are also increasingly influenced by its policy norms. Indeed, the EU is widely recognized as an international environmental policy entrepreneur, particularly in relation to climate policy. What is even more remarkable is that this broad environmental acquis communautaire, or corpus of policy and law, has been assembled in the space of just four decades. Up until the early 1970s, environmental concerns were primarily governed at the national and/or sub-national levels in Europe. Environmental measures that were adopted by the European Economic Commission (EEC) were overtly aimed at trade harmonization within a common market. As new, and more costly, regulatory measures were adopted, conflicts erupted with member states. These battles continued into the 1990s, with member states invoking the principle of subsidiarity to slow down the pace of integration. By the 2000s, EU policy had reached a state of maturity. Despite attempts by more economically liberal governments and industrial actors to roll back policy expansion, the EU sought to shift the emphasis of policymaking toward more holistic responses to sustainable development issues. Economic austerity has, to an extent, slowed the pace of policy expansion but the future of the sector is likely to witness greater experimentation with novel policy instruments and a gradual merging of environmental, climate and energy policy objectives. In this respect, EU environmental policy remains a work in progress. A growing literature on these topics has emerged since the late 20th century. Firstly, several key texts have been published to provide an overview of the sector. Secondly, the literature has also focused more specifically on political decision-making, including the institutional aspects of policymaking. Thirdly, scholars have researched individual policies or policy subsectors, often using them to understand integration through time. Fourthly, empirical work has formed the basis of theory testing or theory building, using perspectives imported from comparative (national) politics and European integration. Finally, research has engaged with the process of environmental governing across multiple institutional levels, including understanding the implementation of measures and how member states are being Europeanized. This overview of the published literature is structured according to these strands.