ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of how the European Union (EU) and other international actors tried to influence the environmental policies of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe in the period leading up to their EU accession. It explains how the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) have adapted to EU environmental law and other comparisons between the CEECs and the EU-15 member states. The chapter also discusses how the CEECs coordinate environmental policy and how the domestic coordination of EU environmental policy reflects the accession process. The capacity problem for the implementation and transposition of EU legislation is linked to the organizational structure of the part of the public administration that is involved with coordinating EU environmental policy. The chapter concludes that the infringement and transposition statistics suggest that there is no significant difference between the CEECs and the EU-15 member states when it comes to the transposition of EU directives.
