New concepts - Old problems? The institutional constraints for the effective implementation of EU environmental policy

Effective implementation is an important indicator of the EU's problem-solving capacity. Especially in the environmental field, an area where implementation deficits are most prominent, this insight led to a significant change in policy instruments. Rather than relying on patterns of interventionist regulation, EU environmental policy is increasingly based on flexible instruments taking account of national context constellations. As revealed by empirical findings, however, these changes did not lead to better implementation results so far. The lacking success of new instruments can be explained in the light of several factors, including both the ambiguity of implementation theory and the deficient application of theoretical findings. We argue that these deficits can be partly addressed by applying an institutional perspective, It will be shown that, rather than being affected by the choice of the policy approach per se, effective implementation is basically dependent on the degree of fit between national arrangements and the institutional implications emerging from European policies.