EU environmental policy in times of crisis

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has been buffeted by a range of crises since 2007, not least the economic and financial crisis. One potential victim of this economic malaise is environmental policy ambition. It is well-established that during economic crises environmental policy slips down the agenda with long term consequences for environmental quality. The EU has sought to cast itself as a global environmental leader but that leadership has in large part rested upon its ability to set ambitious policy goals at home. The future environmental policy trajectory and leadership of the EU may be under threat as the Union struggles to emerge from the economic crisis. This article presents a comprehensive and robust analysis of all environmental policy outputs adopted by the EU over a ten-year period covering the crisis. This legislative analysis is supplemented by interviews with policy stakeholders. The article finds evidence of waning ambition over the period under analysis but a range of explanatory variables emerges from the interviews, which suggests that the diminution in EU environmental policy ambition is driven by a mix of factors and maybe likely to persist over the longer term.

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