This presentation provided an analytical overview of EU environmental policy from its beginnings in the early 1970s up to the present. He showed that EU environmental governance today must be understood as an amalgam of four environmental governance regimes that have successively been layered on top of each other over the past 35 years.

The evolution of EU environmental governance began with the “environmental regime” which was later followed by the “Internal Market regime”, the “Integration regime”, and the “Sustainable development regime”. The four regimes can be distinguished analytically in terms of their overall political priorities, legal foundations, decision-making methods, types of justification, underlying political dynamics, environmental objectives, and instruments. Each of the regimes is still present in the system of EU environmental governance today.

The presentation formed part of the introductory session of the workshop on “Innovative environmental governance and regulation in the EU: any lessons for us?” jointly sponsored by the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE),  University of Wisconsin-Madison, the European Union Center of Excellence (EUCE), University of Wisconsin-Madison, in conjunction with the Multi-State Working Group (MSWG) on Environmental Performance. The workshop was held during the annual MSWG conference.

Ingmar von Homeyer's presentation is available for download [pdf, 217 KB, English].