The Pendulum: The Auto-Oil Programmes Revisited

Abstract

The Auto-Oil Programmes (1993–1996, 1997–2000) were considered a new model on how to solve environmental issue by close cooperation between the European Commission and industry, in particular the automobile and the oil industry. These programmes, in their larger context, are interesting cases to analyse the complexity of emission regulation. These cases are described in some details in this paper in order to distinguish patterns in the type of policy-making that have emerged over time. The main conclusion points to high complexity created by two types of tensions. One tension is that between the drivers of environmental policy: should it be target-based or should environmental policy serve the development of “state of the art technology”? The second tension relates to the question of the manageability of this policy area: should technical experts provide the main input for policy or should all parties that have a stake in this policy area become involved the so-called stakeholder approach? These questions illustrate the dilemmas that face the policy-makers. Different approaches or models can be distinguished over time. This results is a swing back and forth between them, best be described by the metaphor of a pendulum. This idea of shift in policy-making over time complements the existing models of European policy-making, in particular the work on policy-making by participation.