Spanish coordination in the European Union : the case of the habitats directive
By: AGUILAR FERNÁNDEZ, Susana
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ArticlePublisher: Thousand Oaks : SAGE, January 2003Administration & Society 34, 6, p. 678-699Abstract: Spain´s successful negotiation of the habitats directive can be explained by the political salience of this particular issue (the priority attached to the strategy whereby the EU had to be convinced of the need to link environmental protection to the provision of special funds) and by the nature of the domestical political system, characterized by its powerful and autonomous executive and by the noncooperative system of interest intermediation. Above all, the triumpf of the Spanish strategy is due to the ability of sucessive heads of government to tightly control leading EU issues by not allowing a highly departamentalized state administration and the regional governments to be too closely involved in community negotiations. The absence of formal mechanisms that would allow contending interest groups to partake in the decision process, thereby reducing time-consuming procedures and administrative cost, must also be taken into account. As a result, Europeanization has scarcely mdae any progress in Spain
Spain´s successful negotiation of the habitats directive can be explained by the political salience of this particular issue (the priority attached to the strategy whereby the EU had to be convinced of the need to link environmental protection to the provision of special funds) and by the nature of the domestical political system, characterized by its powerful and autonomous executive and by the noncooperative system of interest intermediation. Above all, the triumpf of the Spanish strategy is due to the ability of sucessive heads of government to tightly control leading EU issues by not allowing a highly departamentalized state administration and the regional governments to be too closely involved in community negotiations. The absence of formal mechanisms that would allow contending interest groups to partake in the decision process, thereby reducing time-consuming procedures and administrative cost, must also be taken into account. As a result, Europeanization has scarcely mdae any progress in Spain
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