Air pollution regulation in the EU multilevel system. Political discourse dynamics from a network perspective

Directive 2008/50/EG was designed to set limits to emissions at the EU level. In 2018, the European Commission sued Germany (besides six other Member States) for non-compliance with its provisions. After examining lawsuits filed by environmental associations between 2011 and 2019, scientists found that threats of driving bans and the right of environmental associations to sue cities —granted by the Aarhus Convention— had led to better air pollution control in these. Within this context, city administrations have been pushed to take more effective measures to reduce emissions, since stricter limits at the EU level create pressures for action at the local level. However, little has changed in terms of air pollution control measures: for instance, cities such as Munich would rather take legal action against the EU or risk being fined than adopt the necessary measures to reduce particulate matter pollution. Furthermore, resistance from the Member States makes it harder for the EU to enforce the complex WHO guidelines in the short term. Political regulations are always outcomes of negotiation processes. These political negotiations do not emerge suddenly but manifest themselves in dynamic political discourses at different levels. Thus, this paper seeks to determine the relational dynamics that guided the debate around the reduction of air pollutant emissions in the European Union. We build on the literature in the field of multi-level governance and draw theoretically on the discourse coalitions approach. We use the method of discourse network analysis to compare the debates at different levels, trace different storylines, and identify the roles played by the actors that participated in the abovementioned discussions. We complement this analysis with context-specific insights from semi-structured interviews with individuals involved in such discussions. The contribution of this study is twofold. Firstly, we theoretically develop the discourse coalitions framework by linking it to multi-level governance. Secondly, we produce novel empirical evidence on the debate around air pollution regulation in the EU from a network perspective.