Are EU Environmental Policies Too Demanding for New Members States?

27 Pages Posted: 12 Apr 2005

See all articles by Lorenzo Pellegrini

Lorenzo Pellegrini

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Institute of Social Studies (ISS)

Reyer Gerlagh

Tilburg University - Tilburg University School of Economics and Management

Date Written: March 2005

Abstract

In 2004, ten new states entered the European Union. Relative to the pre-2004 member states, these accession states have lower environmental standards, and some worry that it will be too demanding for these new EU members to fully comply with European environmental provisions. In this paper, we assess one rationale for such harmonization. Specifically, we analyze the determinants of environmental policies' stringency, and show that differences in corruption levels are more important as explanatory factor when compared to income differentials. Since high levels of corruption characterize some countries in the enlarged EU, we argue that this is a good reason for an upward harmonization of environmental policies at the EU level.

Keywords: Corruption, European union, Environmental policy

JEL Classification: C31, K00, Q53

Suggested Citation

Pellegrini, Lorenzo and Gerlagh, Reyer, Are EU Environmental Policies Too Demanding for New Members States? (March 2005). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=694386 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.694386

Lorenzo Pellegrini (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Institute of Social Studies (ISS) ( email )

PO Box 29776
2502 LT The Hague, 2518 AX
Netherlands

Reyer Gerlagh

Tilburg University - Tilburg University School of Economics and Management ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

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