EU vision of sustainable agriculture,land use,forestry and management of natural resources – level of the Slovak state administration convergence to the EU requirements

The EU vision of sustainable agriculture, land use, forestry and management of natural resources contributes to the balanced exploitation of the environment, taking into account rural development strategy. Whilst the EU directs activities through legislative tools, national systems of public administration are responsible for the implementation of the respective laws. Despite there not being acquis communautaire in public administration, non-formal cooperation has nevertheless emerged and systems of national public administration have to meet EU criteria and ensure the effective implementation of legislation. The paper presents an analysis of how Slovak state administration has converged with EU requirements in the field of sustainable agriculture, land use, forestry and natural resources. Administrative convergence is considered through the internal convergence represented by capacities without legal subjectivity, and through external convergence represented by legal and administrative subjectivity. Both approaches are observed at the central level within specialized public authorities. Local state administration is characterized by the creation of internal administrative capacities with the challenging delimitation of which competences are affected by the process of administrative convergence.     

De-Europeanising or disengaging? EU environmental policy and Brexit

ABSTRACT

The European Union (EU) has had a profound effect upon its members’ environmental policy. Even in the United Kingdom (UK), the EU’s most recalcitrant member state (historically labeled the ‘Dirty man of Europe’), environmental policy has been Europeanised. As the UK moves to the EU’s exit door it is timely to assess the utility of Europeanisation for understanding policy dynamics in the UK. Drawing upon interviews and extensive engagement with stakeholders, this article analyses the potential impact of Brexit upon environmental policy and politics. The analytical toolkit offered by de-Europeanisation is developed to identify the factors that drive and inhibit de-Europeanisation processes, thereby providing insights that may be applicable in other settings. Disengagement and policy stagnation are presented as more likely environmental outcomes of Brexit, with capacity emerging as a central explanatory variable.     

Leadership and lesson-drawing in the European Union’s multilevel climate governance system

ABSTRACT

The important role that climate leaders and leadership play at different levels of the European Union (EU) multilevel governance system is exemplified. Initially, climate leader states set the pace with ambitious policy measures that were adopted largely on an ad hoc basis. Since the mid-1980s, the EU has developed a multilevel climate governance system that has facilitated leadership and lesson-drawing at all governance levels including the local level. The EU has become a global climate policy leader by example although it had been set up as a ‘leaderless Europe’. The resulting ‘leadership without leader’ paradox cannot be sufficiently explained merely by reference to top-level EU climate policies. Local-level climate innovations and lesson-drawing have increasingly been encouraged by the EU’s multilevel climate governance system which has become more polycentric. The recognition of economic co-benefits of climate policy measures has helped to further the EU’s climate leadership role.     

One common way — The strategic and methodological influence on environmental planning across Europe

In the last decades the European Union exerted influence on precautionary environmental planning by the establishment of several Directives. The most relevant were the Habitat-Directive, the EIA-Directive, the SEA-Directive and the Water Framework Directive. Comparing these EU policies in the area of environmental precaution it becomes obvious that there is a lot of common ground. Thus, the conclusion seems likely that the European Union, in doing so, has intended to establish general planning concepts through introducing several methodological steps indicated by the regulations. The goal of this article is firstly to point out, which are the common planning principles, converted by methodological elements and secondly examine the consideration of these planning concepts by the implementation and application in the member states. In this context it is analysed whether the connections and divergences between the directives lead to significant differences in the implementation process. To this aim the directives are shortly introduced and significant steps of the processes regulated by them are outlined. In the second steps the national legal implementation in the Alpine states and its consequences for the practical application are discussed. The results show a heterogeneous application of the EU principles. Within the comparative view on the four directives influence and causalities between the national implementation and the practical application were identified, which can be simplified as four types. Since a coherent strategic and methodological concept for improving environmental precaution planning from part of the EU is noticeable, more unity and comparability within the implementation is desirable, particularly in areas with comparable habitats such as the alpine space. Beyond this the trade-off between the directives poses an important task for the future.     

中国—欧盟碳泄漏问题实证研究

气候变化问题已被公认为是全球范围内可持续发展面临的最大威胁,碳泄漏问题是目前气候变化领域的一个热点问题.欧盟等以存在碳泄漏为由欲对非减排国家征收碳关税.在此背景下,本文对碳泄漏问题进行理论分析和实证研究.理论分析认为,碳泄漏有三个主要渠道:化石能源的国际贸易、碳密集型产品的国际贸易和能源密集型产业的国际转移,其中,碳密集型产品的国际贸易一直是争论的核心.在此基础上,本文从碳密集型产品的国际贸易角度对中国与欧盟之间碳泄漏问题进行了实证研究.本文选取钢铁、有色金属、水泥、化肥、玻璃和玻璃制品、纸张和纸制品六个碳密集型产业为研究对象,以中国与欧盟碳密集型产品的进出口比率作为指标,考察欧盟实施温室气体减排措施(1992年)以来该指标的变化趋势,以确定中国与欧盟之间是否发生了碳泄漏以及程度如何.研究结果表明,中国与欧盟之间可能并未发生碳泄漏,或者即使发生了碳泄漏,其程度也很微弱,不足以成为欧盟征收碳关税的理由.     

欧洲环境执政新模式分析

对欧盟新的、开放式的和更具弹性的环境治理模式进行了评估,发现该政策的新模式并不是一剂万能药.在实际的引进与使用过程中,存在很多障碍,这些障碍主要与机构和文化因素有关.对政策制定或(和)执行所做的任何创新都必须从现有的机构设置和旧有的工作常规起步.证明机构路径依循的影响取决于具体事件和国家.因此,即使对于相同的一件事,在不同的政治系统中影响也可能不同.同一项政策在某个国家可能成功执行,在另一个国家可能要产生严重的问题.即使是很多基本特征都相似的邻国,也可能会出现这种差异.环境执政新模式,如自愿或协商的协议和其他方式,关注对公共-私营关系的加强,尤其是决策权力从国家中央向执行的分支部门和私营部门的转移.这要求所有有关方面情愿脱离现有的行政路径,从根本上重新分配各自的权力.解决问题的适当形式和成功很大程度上取决于运用新模式的国家的政治和机构背景.一般说来,市场手段要求正常运作的市场经济氛围,而公众参与或公共-私营关系只有可能在国家、企业和公民社会之间有相对公开沟通的背景下才能进展良好.当满足这些基本条件后,根据创新模式的具体特点,还有各种具体的政治和机构因素与其执行有关.     

欧洲共同体环境法的演生与发展

欧洲共同体环境法是国际环境法重要而有物色的组成部分，它的成功经验对国际法特别是区域国际环境法的制定和实施具有很高的参考价值。欧洲共同体环境法是欧洲共同体法的组成部分，只有以整个欧洲共同体法发展为背影才能明察它的演生与发展历程。     

产业关联水平对碳排放演化的影响机理及效应研究——基于欧盟27国投入产出数据的实证分析

碳排放逐步升高是以工业化为特征的区域经济崛起的必然结果。论文的理论研究说明,产业关联水平反映了区域发展过程中产业多样化和分工细化的程度,相较于产业结构,产业关联水平对区域经济发展水平的指示意义更深刻。那么,产业关联水平对碳排放的影响特征及其趋势将更接近于碳排放在经济发展驱动下的演进规律。因此,论文采用欧盟27国投入产出数据,在测算不同类型制造业和服务业的产业关联水平的基础上,确定不同类型制造业所对应的特征服务业类型,进而应用经济计量学工具对制造业与服务业产业关联度对碳排放的影响进行实证分析,结果显示：第一,作为发达经济体,欧盟的制造业与服务业整体间产业关联度对碳排放具有显著负效应;第二,低端、中端和高端制造业与各自对应特征服务业类型间产业关联度对碳排放的影响均较为显著,其强度呈现随制造业水平升级而先上升、后下降的趋势;第三,高端制造业与生产性、分配性服务业间产业关联度的提高是实现区域碳排放达到峰值并逐步下降的重要动力,而中端制造业与其对应特征服务业关联度提升对碳排放的正向效应将高于低端制造业主导时期。因此,结合发达经济体的发展经验可以发现,碳排放的演化具有规律性特征,而以产业关联度入手的分析能够提供操作性更强的参考。目前,中国应在推动产业结构升级结构的过程中,大力提升生产性服务业的发展水平及其与制造业的关联水平,并采取积极措施降低交通运输业等分配性服务业的能耗强度。     

欧盟重金属污染防治制度研究

欧盟是一个由各成员国合作实施共同但又有差别化环境政策的区域,其重金属污染防治工作特色明显。总结分析了欧盟重金属污染防治的管理制度和相关经验,重点研究欧盟在水环境、大气环境、土壤环境以及固体废弃物等领域的重金属污染防治法律法规、标准体系,总结其经验,以期为中国重金属污染防治工作提供参考和借鉴。