Local level failure? Non-compliance of EU environmental policy within EU multi-level governance

Non-compliance with EU environmental policy not only impedes Europeanization, but jeopardizes the protection of human health and the environment. However, research on failed policy implementation still applies traditional top-down or bottom-up approaches and disregards complex actor constellations and contextualization. The research in this paper applies a comprehensive multilevel governance (MLG) approach to overcome this gap and explain noncompliance with EU environmental policy. We conducted a qualitative analysis of non-compliance with the Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) within an MLG context, based on a case study in Germany. Our findings revealed a dynamic interplay of local government's lack of action, an absence of serious support and pressure from superordinate levels, business actors exerting influence across all levels, and media reporting contributing to misinformation, all of which contribute to non-compliance. At the same time, there was a lack of awareness of the negative effects of air pollution and thus a lack of public pressure to act.