ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses adaptation to the environmental acquis in our four countries. The environment was chosen for two reasons: first, it is a policy sector where MLG is, because of the scale and complexity of the issues involved, considered the default setting. Jordan, for instance, described environmental policy as a ‘sophisticated, multi-level governance system in which policy-making powers are shared between supranational and subnational actors to a unique extent’ (1999a: 2). Environmental policy is focused on the management of non-rival public goods, some of which, such as lakes or rivers, may be common pool resources and therefore potentially excludable, but common sink resources, such as the atmosphere, are non-excludable. 1 It is a technically challenging policy area and this is reflected in Chapter 27 (Environment) of the acquis with over 300 directives and regulations, which is the second largest after agriculture. Not surprisingly, ‘Environmental policy is the second-most studied policy in connection with multi-level governance’ (Piattoni 2010: 139). Such technical demands bring strong disciplinary pressures to bear on member and would-be member states alike, but for SEE states with limited administrative capacity and specialist knowledge, it is a particular challenge that profoundly influences the capacity bargain. Environmental policy is a major and growing aspect of EU activity, and has major implications for capacity and governance at all levels, from the local to the supranational, drawing in international organisations other than the EU and is also an important arena for the mobilisation of civil society (Fairbrass and Jordan 2004: 147–64).
