Skip to main content
Log in

How efficient is joint decision-making in the EU?

Environmental policies and the Co-decision procedure

  • Articles
  • European Governance
  • Published:
Intereconomics

Abstract

This paper looks at how the joint decision-making mode of governance enhances policy effectiveness in the field of European environmental policy. This is mainly due to the as yet neglected phenomenon of the interaction between representative institutions at different levels in the European Union that characterises joint decision-making.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. For a parallel analysis of a supranational regulation mode of governance, namely Economic and Monetary Union, see P. Torres EMU and EU Governance, in: F. Torres, A Verdun, C. Zilion H. Zim mermann (eds.): Governing EMU, Florence forthcoming EUI.

  2. N. Nugent: The Government and Politics of the European Union, 4th ed., London 1999, MacMillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  3. See D. North: Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge 1990, Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  4. European Commission: Commission Communication 9175/01 A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: A European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development, 2001.

  5. See G. Pridham, M. Cini: Enforcing Environmental Standards in the European Union: Is There a Southern Problem, in: M. Faure, J. Vervaele, A. Waele (eds.): Environmental Standards in the EU in an Interdisciplinary Framework, Antwerp 1994, Maklu.

    Google Scholar 

  6. For data on EU members’ performance in transposing EU directives and on infringements and convictions before the European Court of Justice see T. Börzel: Why There is no Southern Problem. On Environmental Leaders and Laggards in the European Union, in: Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2000, pp. 141–162.

  7. For various examples see E. Jones, J. Frieden, F. Torres (eds) Joining Europe’s Monetary Club: The Challenges for Smaller Member States, New York and London 1998, Martin’s Press and MacMillan

    Google Scholar 

  8. See G. Pridham, M. Cini, op. cit..

    Google Scholar 

  9. See M. Carley, I. Christie: Managing Sustainable Development, 2nd edition, London and Sterling, VA, 2000 Earthscan Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  10. See T. Börzel, op cit. Why There is no Southern Problem. On Environmental Leaders and Laggards in the European Union, in: Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2000, pp. 141–162.

  11. Already at the 1985 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), the Single European Act while giving the EU (at that time EC) a wide scope for environmental action (Article 130r.1) invoked for the first time in the EC Treaty (Article 130r.4) the principle of subsidiarity. It was cancelled when the general subsidiarity clause was included in the TEU. See D. Dinan: Ever-Closer Union: An Introduction to the European Union, 2nd Ed., London 1999, Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  12. See B. Kohler-Koch: The Evolution and Transformation of European Governance, in: B. Kohler-Koch, R. Eising (eds.) The Transformation of Governance in the EU, London and N.Y. 1999, Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  13. F. Torres, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  14. B. Kohler-Koch, op. cit.. p. 17

    Google Scholar 

  15. See H. Wallace: The Institutional Setting Five Variations on a Theme in: H. Wallace, W. Wallace (eds.) Policy Making in the European Union, 4th Ed., Oxford 2000. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  16. On the increase of power of the European Parliament with co-decision prior to its revision by the Amsterdam Treaty, for a cautious approach (pointing to the need for further research) see for instance L. Martin: Economic and Political Integration: Institutional Challenge and Response, in: B. Eichengreen, J. Frieden (eds.): Forging an Integrated Europe. Michigan 1998, University of Michigan Press, pp. 129–157.

    Google Scholar 

  17. L. Martin, op. cit.

    Google Scholar 

  18. For an account of its increased importance namely through the increasingly powerful and aggressively-led European Parliamentary Committee on the Environment. Public Health and Consumer Protection, see A. Sbragra. Environmental Policy Economic Copstrasts and External Pressures, in H. Wallace, W. Wallace (eds.) Policy Making in the European Union, 4th Ed. Oxford 2000, Oxford University Press, pp. 293–316

    Google Scholar 

  19. A. Young, H. Wallace: Regulatory Politics in the Enlarging European Union: Weighing Civic and Producer Interests. Manchester 2000, Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  20. A. Noury, G. Roland: More Power to the European Parliament?, in: Economic Policy, Vol. 17, No. 35, October 2002.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Torres, F. How efficient is joint decision-making in the EU?. Intereconomics 38, 312–322 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02914021

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02914021

Keywords

Navigation