European Union Environment Policy and New Forms of Governance : A Study of the Implementation of the Environment Impact Assessment Directive and the Eco-Management and Audit Scheme Regulation in Three Member States

Outlining the results of a three-country study, the contributors examine the impact of EU policy on the domestic political and institutional environment. The book tests ideas about new forms of governance that reflect the values of participation and empowerment of local interests, particularly through a close scrutiny of the environmental impact assessment process. It also analyzes the responses of the business sector in the three countries Germany, Greece and Great Britain - to the introduction of a voluntary environmental management system, the eco-management and audit scheme. The data collected bring to light the differences in responding to EU policy in a federal state, in a rapidly modernizing patronage state and in a highly centralized unitary state. Through these comparisons, the robustness of the notions underpinning new forms of governance are tested and in a number of respects, found wanting.