Research Project: Is the European Parliament an Environmental Champion?
Dates: 01 November 2007 - 31 October 2008
The aim of this ESRC funded project is to test the proposition that the European Parliament is an environmental champion.
The European Union plays a leading role advancing international environmental cooperation. It is the major source of environmental legislation in all its member states, with around 70-80% of UK environmental legislation emanating from Brussels.
The European Parliament has enormous potential to shape the direction and content of national environmental policies, particularly since the introduction of co-decision in 1993, a procedure giving it more influence in the legislative process. The European Parliament has long been regarded as a positive force for environmental change in the EU, but its green reputation has never been subjected to detailed empirical scrutiny. We plan to put the European Parliament under the academic microscope in order to evaluate its environmental credentials.
In order to carry out this evaluation, we are constructing and analysing a new data set of amendments introduced by the European Parliament under co-decision. This data set will be used to test whether the European Parliament’s reputation as an environmental champion is deserved and to widen our understanding of how and why parliaments treat environmental legislation in the way it does.
Project Publications
Interim Report [PDF: 241KB]
House of Lords Evidence [PDF: 43KB]
Political Studies article: Is Co-decision Good for the Environment? An Analysis of the European Parliament's Green Credentials
Other Staff Involved
Dr Nick Worsfold, University of York