European environmental policy - Mikael Skou Andersen

European Union environmental policy has developed rapidly in recent years. An important dynamic behind it has been that some meber states have developed comprehensive environmental policies, while others hav limited or no national environmental legislation. Since 1995, three leading countries in environmental policy - Sweden, Austria and Finland - have joined the European Union. Their accession gives support to the environmental policies that for some time have been promoted at the EU level by Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany.;This study traces the political and institutional dynamics that have made these countries develop their notions of environmental policy and select the issues which are brought to Brussels for Europeanization. It covers Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden and is a comparative study, combining domestic and EU aspects of national environmental policies. It draws attention to the background for the activism exhibited by the smaller member states in EU environmental policy-making, as well as to Germany's changed role in the 1990s. Each of the contributions has been written by a native expert in national environmental policies and according to a common conceptual framework.