DEVOLVED RESPONSIBILITY AND CENTRALIZATION: EFFECTS OF EEC ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1986.tb00616.x |
| Author | NIGEL HAIGH |
| Date | 01 June 1986 |
| Published date | 01 June 1986 |
DEVOLVED RESPONSIBILITY AND
CENTRALIZATION: EFFECTS
OF
EEC
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
NIGEL HAIGH
The European Community is still a community of nation states in the sense that the
obligations created by Community legislation fall on the member states who then have
to implement them.
A point much commented upon is that this involves a loss
of
sovereignty or power
for national parliaments and governments. What is less frequently noticed is that it can
also centralize into a national government’s hands some powers that had previously been
devolved to local and other authorities. Since the Community deals largely with national
governments, what had previously been local functions have to become national govern-
ment functions the moment they fall within a Community policy.
This process can be seen at work as a result of the Community’s environmental policy.
In Britain a variety of administrative agencies have exercised considerable discretion in
handling pollution matters. Some functions are handled by district councils, some by county
councils, some by specialized regional authorities, eg water authorities, and some by
specialized national agencies, eg the Industrial Air Pollution Inspectorate.
As
a result
of
the Community’s environmental policy, the central government now has greater powers.
If
the erosion of the tradition of devolved responsibility is not to be resented,
it
must be
justified on the grounds that some larger purpose is being served.
The environmental policy
of
the European Community is embodied in a steadily
growing number
of
items
of
legislation (directives, regulations, decisions).
Commission officials are rather given to emphasizing their number, pointing out
that more than
50,
or
70,
or
100
items
-
it depends on what one counts
-
have
been agreed in only ten years. Some at least of this long list are nevertheless
important items
of
legislation by any standard and many have had
a
significant
effect in Britain (Haigh,
1984).
This legislation has been agreed unanimously by the member states with only
temporary blockages, and without reaching the point of near immobility that has
characterized
so
many other areas
of
Community policy. Environmental policy
can now be counted as one
of
the quiet success stories
of
the Community, and
Nigel Haigh is at the Institute for European Environmental Policy, 3 Endsleigh Street, London
WC1.
This
is a modified version
of
a paper given to
the
RIPA Conference
in
September 1984 on The Shifting
State: Rules, Roles and Boundaries
in
the 1980s’.
Royal Institute of Public Administration Vol.
64
Summer 1986 (197-207)
0
1986 Royal Institute
of
Public Administration ISSN 0033-3298 $3.00.
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