IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v35y2017i6p1117-1135.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The challenge of implementing European Union environmental law in the new member states: The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in the Czech Republic and Poland

Author

Listed:
  • Dan Marek
  • Michael Baun
  • Marcin DÄ…browski

Abstract

This article examines the problematic implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) in the Czech Republic and Poland from the perspective of the scholarly debate on European Union (EU) and post-accession compliance, focusing on the competing ‘goodness of fit’ and administrative-legal approaches to explaining variations in compliance with EU rules. It finds that administrative shortcomings of various kinds are a major reason for implementation problems in both countries, and that problems have also stemmed from the multilevel nature of the implementation process, which places a heavy administrative and financial burden on municipalities, and requires cooperation between national and local government authorities. In the Czech case, however, the ‘misfit’ between EU standards and contracting and regulatory practices in the Czech water sector has also undermined UWWTD compliance, through its negative impact on the country's ability to access EU funding.

Suggested Citation

  • Dan Marek & Michael Baun & Marcin DÄ…browski, 2017. "The challenge of implementing European Union environmental law in the new member states: The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in the Czech Republic and Poland," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(6), pages 1117-1135, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:35:y:2017:i:6:p:1117-1135
    DOI: 10.1177/0263774X16686071
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0263774X16686071
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0263774X16686071?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liliana B. Andonova & Ioana A. Tuta, 2014. "Transnational Networks and Paths to EU Environmental Compliance: Evidence from New Member States," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(4), pages 775-793, July.
    2. Motte, Robin de la, 2007. "A Tale of Two Cities: Public participation and sustainability in decision-making on water systems in two Polish cities," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 134-142, June.
    3. Falkner, Gerda, 2010. "Institutional Performance and Compliance with EU Law: Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 101-116, April.
    4. Arista Maria Cirtautas & Frank Schimmelfennig, 2010. "Europeanisation Before and After Accession: Conditionality, Legacies and Compliance," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 62(3), pages 421-441.
    5. Gerda Falkner & Oliver Treib, 2008. "Three Worlds of Compliance or Four? The EU‐15 Compared to New Member States," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 293-313, March.
    6. Sedelmeier, Ulrich, 2009. "Post-accession compliance with EU gender equality legislation in post-communist new member states," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 13, December.
    7. Knill, Christoph & Tosun, Jale, 2009. "Post-accession transposition of EU law in the new member states: a cross-country comparison," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 13, December.
    8. Krizsan, Andrea, 2009. "From formal adoption to enforcement. Post-accession shifts in EU impact on Hungary in the equality policy field," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 13, December.
    9. Grzegorz Peszko & Patrick Lenain, 2001. "Encouraging Environmentally Sustainable Growth in Poland," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 299, OECD Publishing.
    10. Tallberg, Jonas, 2002. "Paths to Compliance: Enforcement, Management, and the European Union," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(3), pages 609-643, July.
    11. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:46:y:2008:i::p:293-313 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Maniokas, Klaudijus, 2009. "Conditionality and compliance in Lithuania: the case of the best performer," European Integration online Papers (EIoP), European Community Studies Association Austria (ECSA-A), vol. 13, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kati Orru & Henry Rothstein, 2015. "Not ‘Dead Letters’, Just ‘Blind Eyes’: The Europeanisation of Drinking Water Risk Regulation in Estonia and Lithuania," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 47(2), pages 356-372, February.
    2. Tosun, Jale, 2011. "When the grace period is over: Assessing the new Member States' compliance with EU requirements for oil stockholding," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7156-7164.
    3. Asya Zhelyazkova & Nikoleta Yordanova, 2015. "Signalling ‘compliance’: The link between notified EU directive implementation and infringement cases," European Union Politics, , vol. 16(3), pages 408-428, September.
    4. Nikitas Konstantinidis & Yannis Karagiannis, 2020. "Intrinsic vs. extrinsic incentives for reform: An informational mechanism of E(M)U conditionality," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 601-632, July.
    5. Aron Buzogány, 2015. "Building governance on fragile grounds: lessonsfrom Romania," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 33(5), pages 901-918, October.
    6. Carsten Hefeker & Michael Neugart, 2016. "Policy deviations, uncertainty, and the European Court of Justice," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 547-567, December.
    7. Jean-Claude Barbier & Fabrice Colomb, 2011. "The unbearable foreignness of EU law in social policy, a sociological approach to law-making," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00639906, HAL.
    8. Brigitte Pircher & Karl Loxbo, 2020. "Compliance with EU Law in Times of Disintegration: Exploring Changes in Transposition and Enforcement in the EU Member States between 1997 and 2016," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 1270-1287, September.
    9. José Luis Castro-Montero & Edwin Alblas & Arthur Dyevre & Nicolas Lampach, 2018. "The Court of Justice and treaty revision: A case of strategic leniency?," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(4), pages 570-596, December.
    10. Iwasaki, Ichiro & Satogami, Mihoko, 2023. "Gender wage gap in European emerging markets: a meta-analytic perspective," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 57, pages 1-9.
    11. Thomas König & Lars Mäder, 2013. "Non-conformable, partial and conformable transposition: A competing risk analysis of the transposition process of directives in the EU15," European Union Politics, , vol. 14(1), pages 46-69, March.
    12. Fabio Franchino & Camilla Mariotto, 2021. "Noncompliance risk, asymmetric power and the design of enforcement of the European economic governance," European Union Politics, , vol. 22(4), pages 591-610, December.
    13. James P. Cross, 2012. "Interventions and negotiation in the Council of Ministers of the European Union," European Union Politics, , vol. 13(1), pages 47-69, March.
    14. Pointvogl, Andreas, 2009. "Perceptions, realities, concession--What is driving the integration of European energy policies?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5704-5716, December.
    15. Bernard Steunenberg, 2010. "Is big brother watching? Commission oversight of the national implementation of EU directives," European Union Politics, , vol. 11(3), pages 359-380, September.
    16. Richard Perkins & Eric Neumayer, 2007. "Implementing Multilateral Environmental Agreements: An Analysis of EU Directives," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 7(3), pages 13-41, August.
    17. Jean-Claude Barbier & Fabrice Colomb, 2011. "The unbearable foreignness of EU law in social policy, a sociological approach to law-making," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 11065, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    18. Marcin Dabrowski, 2011. "Partnership in implementation of the Structural Funds in Poland: 'shallow' adjustment or internalization of the European mode of cooperative governance?," Working Papers of the Vienna Institute for European integration research (EIF) 5, Institute for European integration research (EIF).
    19. Jean-Claude Barbier & Fabrice Colomb, 2011. "The unbearable foreignness of EU law in social policy, a sociological approach to law-making," Post-Print halshs-00639906, HAL.
    20. Angelos Katsaris, 2016. "Europeanization through Policy Networks in the Southern Neighbourhood: Advancing Renewable Energy Rules in Morocco and Algeria," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 656-673, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:35:y:2017:i:6:p:1117-1135. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.