ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the EU transforms political issues and demands into policy decisions via the policy process. Due to its multi-faceted nature, the EU environmental policy process cannot be captured fully by a single theory. Instead, it is shaped by a combination of different processes, each of which may dominate at certain times and for particular issues. In intergovernmental processes, policy making revolves around environmental leader and laggard states, with outcomes being determined by their respective bargaining power and the use of conflict management techniques. In supranational policy making, the European Parliament and the Commission each aim to raise the level of protection above the lowest common denominator of member state positions. Finally, ever more environmental policy decisions are adopted via a transnational process in which the Commission and expert officials are relatively loosely coupled to their domestic governments.
