Subsidiarity and Shared Responsibility: New Challenges for EU Environmental Policy

Subsidiarity and Shared Responsibility are two of the key concepts of the EU"s Fifth Environmental Action Programme. By bringing together academics and practitioners from different European regions and interest groups, the book aims to examine the state of discussion and to exchange experience concerning the understanding, application and implementation of the subsidiarity and shared responsibility principles. The main focus is on the question how these principles are exercised in practice. The book is divided into three parts. Part I ("Theoretical Perspectives") focuses on the fundamental themes of the debate, illustrating how subsidiarity and shared responsibility are functionally useful terms to which actors attribute various meanings in order to pursue their own interests. Part II ("Implications for the Regions") considers not only the understanding and application of subsidiarity and shared responsibility between regions of various states, but also among regions of the same member state. Finally, Part III ("Policies and Actors") examines individual sectors and interest groups, looking at regional development policy, the EU Structural Funds and at energy policy, as well as presenting the view from industry.