External dimensions of European environmental policy: An analysis of environmental treaty ratification by third states

Abstract

The European Union has become an important leader in international environmental affairs – particularly through the negotiation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) with favourable terms. In this article, EU environmental leadership is studied from a new perspective, focusing on the ratification stage of environmental regime formation. Specifically, it investigates whether the EU is also capable of motivating third states to join its preferred MEAs. It is argued that third states join the EU's preferred MEAs to signal their compliance with EU environmental standards in an effort to become eligible for various rewards that the EU could potentially offer, including a credible membership perspective, access to its lucrative markets, and aid and assistance. The argument is tested by examining the ratification behaviour of 25 non‐EU Member States with regard to all 21 MEAs negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The results provide robust support for the theory that EU rewards motivate third states to ratify these treaties. The results withstand a number of statistical tests, even when alternative explanatory factors such as trade intensities, transnational communication and geographic proximity are controlled for. The study is the first large‐scale demonstration of the EU's external influence at the ratification stage of environmental regime formation. By identifying three different channels of EU influence, the research permits a more refined understanding of the EU's role as a promoter of environmental protection standards.

From environmental policy concepts to practicable tools: Knowledge creation and delegation in multilevel systems

“…The reason for this is the EU's strong international reputation as the environmental policy benchmark over the years (see, e.g., Zito ; Oberthür and Roche Kelly ; Gehring and Oberthür ; Kelemen ; Oberthür and Rabitz ; Tosun and Peters ), resulting in a governance model legitimated by the other IOs (Miller ). The EU's ambition in this field is an outcome of its strategic goal to define the international level playing field according to its own most preferred regulatory standards (Schulze and Tosun ).…”

Compliance with EU biofuel targets in South-Eastern and Eastern Europe: Do interest groups matter?

“…Our next focal independent variable measures the strength of environmental lobbies by the number of environmental groups (ENGOs) that are members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world's largest umbrella organization for ENGOs based in Switzerland (see also Fredriksson et al, 2007;Schulze and Tosun, 2013). It is important to note that member organizations of IUCN can be expected to have strong ties with European and international groups, which we associate with a biofuelsskeptic position.…”

Rival Regulatory Regimes in International Environmental Politics: The Case of Biosafety

“…De Francesco ) and environmental norms in particular (e.g. Zito ; Falkner ; Groenleer and Van Schaik ; Vogler and Stephan ; Kelemen ; Kelemen and Vogel ; Biedenkopf ; Damro ; Schulze and Tosun ). In this process, it is predominantly the individual EU member states and the European Commission officials that take the lead in communicating the EU's position to international actors involved in negotiations (Delreux and Van den Brande ).…”

“…The key difference is that the EU relies more often on MEAs, whereas the USA tends to influence regulatory standards abroad via the negotiation of trade regimes (Bechtel and Tosun 2009;Kelemen and Vogel 2010;Schulze and Tosun 2013;Baccini and Urpelainen 2014). However, the EU's preference for MEAs does not necessarily represent a major difference in ambition or intention, as the EU also engages in unilateral regulatory globalization by externalizing its laws and regulations (Bradford 2012).…”

“…Sbragia and Damro ; Zito ; Falkner ; Poletti and Sicurelli ). The EU's leadership role is closely linked to the development of an increasing number of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and regimes (Jordan et al ; Vogel ; Vogler and Stephan ; Kelemen ; Kelemen and Vogel ; Schulze and Tosun ). According to Kelemen and Vogel (), MEAs currently offer important means for the EU to add international legitimacy to its regulatory standards and to protect those standards against pressure arising from international regulatory competition.…”