Environmental Policy-Making In Britain, Germany And The European Union

European environmental policy has become an increasingly important area of EU policy-making and the source of political conflict between Britain and Germany. This work explains why national conflicts have arisen and how they are resolved at EU level. Rudiger Wurzel argues that Anglo-German divergences are best explained in terms of ecological vulnerability, economic cost and capacity, political salience and environmental regulatory styles. Focusing on two very important and media exploitable issues - car emission and bathing water regulation - this work challenges the conventional wisdom that Britain has shown a clear preference for environmental quality objectives while Germany championed uniform emission limits. Acceptance of the concept of ecological modernization plays a vital role in the adoption of more progressive environmental standards. The empirical findings are based on unpublished material and more than 100 interviews with former government ministers, EU Commissioners, senior officials, Members of the European Parliament as well as industry and NGO representatives.