When multilevel water management meets regional government: the differential impacts on administrative integration

Effective environmental governance in the EU relies on multilevel approaches capable of closing the gap between EU level policymaking and lower-level implementation. Nevertheless, studies of administrative integration as a means to strengthen policy implementation have not systematically comprised subnational levels. In Sweden and Norway, regional level bureaucrats coordinate routinely and closely with external actors in their role as river basin district authorities pursuant to the EU Water Framework Directive. In this process, they rely less on internal coordination with their regional government institutions, and follow administrative procedures partly controlled by the European Commission. Simultaneously, the precise planning and coordination procedures vary according to organizational differences at the regional level in the two countries. The findings indicate that supranational administrative procedures as coordination mechanisms and organizational variables at the regional level shape and condition administrative integration of regional level bureaucrats in the EU multilevel system.