State Power and Institutional Influence in European Integration: Lessons From the Packaging Waste Directive

Abstract

This study traces the development of the recently adopted packaging waste directive in order to illuminate the role of various actors in the integration process. While some of the findings about agenda-setting and qualified majority voting presented in this study apply directly to the sector of environmental policy, or specifically to the chosen case, the broader conclusions suggest the need for additional case studies of EC legislation and offer a theoretical framework in which these studies may be used to test competing notions of European integration. To this end, the study uses lessons from the case of packaging waste to refine the ongoing debate between scholars who propose state-centric models and those who advocate a view of Europe in which power is diffused to supranational institutions at the expense of state sovereignty.