Unpacking the Slovak context: exploring EU law compliance and environmental infringements

Abstract

ABSTRACT The paper focuses on Slovakia’s compliance performance in the EU law implementation since its accession in 2004. It explores the use of the infringement procedure launched by the European Commission against the Slovak Republic. The article pursues three primary objectives. Firstly, it evaluates Slovakia’s non-compliance since joining the EU, using quantitative indicators to compare non-compliance with EU directives in various policy areas. Secondly, it examines if factors known to impact compliance in existing literature also apply to Slovakia. Thirdly, the study delves into environmental infringements in Slovakia, underlining the prominence of environmental concerns and the country’s substantial number of related infringement proceedings, including those involving the Court of Justice of the European Union. This analysis contributes insights into understanding compliance gaps within problematic policy areas, specifically environmental policy like waste management, in the Slovak context. The authors’ findings indicate that the roots of environmental non-compliance can be traced to how the environmental agenda is prioritised by political elites and officials within the state administration, as well as the interplay of various factors emanating from wider political and social landscapes.