ABSTRACT
Meeting the challenge of sustainable development will ultimately require government interventions in social and economic life-in short, regulation. If sustainable development is to be successfully applied beyond the level of rhetoric in the European Union, then attention will need to be paid to the precise means by which EU policies are implemented across Europe. Much can be learnt from experiences with existing policies in different regional contexts. This Chapter examines the local implementation of EU environmental policies, drawing upon evidence from a study of water directives in rural regions of France, Germany, Greece, Spain and the UK.1 The focus of official attention has been on the formal transposition of European laws into national laws rather than implementation on the ground. Differences in national and local, administrative and regulatory contexts and cultures can hamper the construction of an integrated European environmental policy, however, and they serve to highlight the new challenges to be faced in devising a European strategy for sustainable development. There is a need for greater mutual understanding of how perceptions of environmental problems and priorities differ across Europe, as well as a need for greater consideration of practical implementation issues in the drawing up and drafting of European legislation.
