ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the layer of the European Union (EU) environmental policy process. It begins with an analysis of the EU policy-making process before investigating EU environmental policy objectives and their implementation problems. The chapter describes EU policy-making as an enormously complex process which has been influenced by a multitude of actors with varying interests and which has culminated in a broad EU environmental policy containing some vague environmental policy compromises, and some substantial and ambitious environmental objectives. Environmental action programmes have corresponded more strongly with the practicalities of EU environmental policy objectives than the Treaties. In the context of environmental policies, subsidiarity spun off an ongoing debate on which government level is 'most appropriate' for decision-making in certain environmental policy areas. The chapter addresses the apparent implementation deficit and investigates the imbalance between EU environmental policy production on the one hand and national and subnational implementation shortfalls on the other.
