The Netherlands: An Integrated, Participatory Approach to Environmental Policymaking

Environmental Policy and Governance: Bringing the State Back In (Again)?

“…At the heart of this effort has been the development of comprehensive national plans which also sought to maintain a consensus-based approach by including various groups in the strategic planning (Hanf and van de Gronden 1998). Into the new millennium, this approach has changed: the government coalitions tended to be concerned about the burden of ambitious environmental targets (preferring international or EU level solutions that maintained a 'level playing field') as well as acknowledging the difficulty of implementing some of the past ambitious targets (Liefferink and Birkel 2010;Liefferink and Wiering 2007).…”

“…Various overviews of Dutch policy continue to assess traditional regulation as being core (OECD 2003c;Liefferink and Wiering 2007). As in Germany, the EU has become an important reason for the continued reliance on traditional regulation and constraints on instrumental innovation; for example, efforts to implement EU legislation through a more flexible or voluntary scheme have met a very negative reaction from the Commission and the European Court of Justice (Smith and Ingram 2002: 593).…”

“…Since the 1990s the Dutch government has focused on simplifying the licensing process in Dutch environmental policy, particularly by targeting the significant polluters and establishing general regulations (with standard procedures) for most of the other polluters (Wurzel et al 2013;VROM 2005). The Dutch have also developed 'Framework licenses' that specify only general targets and give polluters the flexibility to meet the targets (Liefferink and Wiering 2007).…”

The Environment and the European Public Sphere

“…There were of course other French representatives, notably an inspector general of historic monuments, a member from Touring Club de France, and a former custodian of Fontainebleau forest, although the congress went almost unnoticed in France, not to mention the United Kingdom. 52 The Bern congress brought together delegates from seventeen European and non-European countries (the United 47 Bulletin de la SPPF, no. 39, Dec. 1910.…”

“…From this I can only conclude that you are powerless in the face of these things or, as I have already suggested, that you have no knowledge of them. 52 On 5 October 1988, the authorities reacted by drafting a report from the industry and raw material department of the Central Committee. It was written in collaboration with local authorities from the area surrounding the industrial chemical combine of Bitterfeld.…”