Compliance with the European environmental law: Leaders and Laggards

Abstract The European Union (EU) has legislated mechanisms to ensure compliance with the law. However, non-compliance with European environmental legislation remains a challenging issue. Data from the Commission's Annual Reports from 2007 to 2019, particularly regarding legal environmental infringements, were analyzed to investigate the reasons behind EU member states’ non-compliance. The statistics reveal that EU member states often make the rational choice to non-comply with European environmental legislation. Further, factors such as economic development, legal systems, and environmental performance do not significantly influence non-compliance. Conversely, the timing of accession to the EU and geographical region are critical factors related to compliance. Surprisingly, some of the founding and the old EU countries report more infringements of articles 258 and 260 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), compared to those that joined in later waves. While this approach has been applied to investigate compliance with European environmental legislation, it can also be extended to other legislative areas.