Albert-Ludwig-University Freiburg Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources Productive Farms – Polluted Water? Party Political Conflict about the Implementation of the Nitrates Directive in Germany Master-thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Environmental Governance by Miriam Beulting Matriculation number: 4531473 First supervisor: Dr. Sylvia Kruse Second supervisor: Prof. Dr. Margaret Shannon Freiburg im Beisgau / Germany Date of submission: 29th April, 2020 Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables ......................................................................................................................... i List of Acronyms and Abbreviations .........................................................................................................ii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. iii Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... iv 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1 2. An Unsolved Challenge: Aquatic Nitrate Contamination and the Implementation of the Nitrates Directive in Germany ............................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 The Degree and Effects of Aquatic Nitrate Contamination in Germany ....................................... 1 2.2 Agricultural Production as the Main Source of Aquatic Nitrate Contamination in Germany ....... 4 2.3 The European Nitrates Directive – a Policy Response to Aquatic Nitrate Contamination from Agricultural Sources ............................................................................................................................ 6 2.4 The National Implementation of the European Nitrates Directive ............................................... 7 2.5 The National Implementation of the European Nitrates Directive in Germany ........................... 8 2.6. Party-Political Cleavages Concerning Aquatic Nitrate Contamination from Agricultural Sources – Impediment or Driver of Policy Change? ......................................................................................... 9 3. Problem Statement and Research Objective ...................................................................................... 9 4. Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................................... 10 4.1 Cleavage Theory: Party Politics as an Impediment to Policy Change.......................................... 10 4.2 Punctuated Equilibrium Framework: Party Politics as a Source of Policy Change ...................... 14 4.2.1 The Basic Features of the Punctuated Equilibrium Framework ........................................... 14 4.2.2 The Role of Party Politics in the Punctuated Equilibrium Framework ................................. 16 4.3 Party Politics and the National Transposition of European Directives ....................................... 19 4.4 Integrated Conceptual Model ..................................................................................................... 22 5. Methods ............................................................................................................................................ 24 5.1 Research Design .......................................................................................................................... 24 5.2. Data Selection and Collection .................................................................................................... 25 5.3 Data Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 28 5.3.1 Quantitative Data Analysis ................................................................................................... 28 5.3.2 Qualitative Data Analysis ...................................................................................................... 29 6. Results ............................................................................................................................................... 31 6.1 Decision-Making Structures during the Transposition of the Nitrates Directive in Germany .... 32 6.2 Party-Political Lines of Conflict concerning Aquatic Nitrate Contamination and the Transposition of the Nitrates Directive ............................................................................................. 32 6.3 Party-Political Attention to Aquatic Nitrate Contamination and the Transposition of the Nitrates Directive .............................................................................................................................. 36 6.4 Policy-Making Processes Underlying the German Transposition of the Nitrates Directive ........ 37 6.4.1 The Policy Process Leading to the Adoption of the first National Action Programme (April 1991-January 1996) ....................................................................................................................... 39 6.4.2 The Policy Process Leading to the First Two Amendments of the National Action Programme (February 1996-January 2006) .................................................................................. 41 6.4.3 The Policy Process Leading to the Third Amendment of the National Action Programme and the Political Debate until the 2nd ECJ Verdict (February 2006 - June 2018) ........................... 45 7. Discussion .......................................................................................................................................... 51 7.1 Discussion of the Empirical Findings ........................................................................................... 51 7.1.1 Party-Political Cleavages concerning Aquatic Nitrate Contamination and the Transposition of the Nitrates Directive ................................................................................................................ 51 7.1.2 Party-Political Cleavages as a Source of Political Attention to Aquatic Nitrate Contamination and the Transposition of the Nitrates Directive ................................................... 54 7.1.3 The German Transposition of the Nitrates Directive – A Struggle between Competing Policy Images across Political Parties and Policy Venues ........................................................................ 56 7.1.4 Synopsis ................................................................................................................................ 65 7.2 Discussion of the Research Scope and Design ............................................................................ 67 7.3 Transferability of the Results ...................................................................................................... 70 7.4 Implications for Further Research ............................................................................................... 70 7.5 Practical Implications for Policy-Making ..................................................................................... 73 7.5.1 Practical Implications for the Domestic Transposition of (Environmental) EU Directives ... 73 7.5.2 Practical Implications for the Design and Enforcement of (Environmental) EU Directives . 74 8. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 76 9. References ......................................................................................................................................... 79 9.1 General Literature ....................................................................................................................... 79 9.2. Verdicts ....................................................................................................................................... 92 9.3 Directives, Laws and Ordinances ................................................................................................. 92 9.4 Legal Drafts .................................................................................................................................. 92 9.5 Legislative Proceedings ............................................................................................................... 93 Appendix A: Results of Bundestag Elections and Party-Political Composition of the Bundesrat during the Implementation of the Nitrates Directive ..................................................................................... 100 Results of Bundestag Elections ........................................................................................................ 100 Party-Political Composition of the Bundesrat ................................................................................. 100 Appendix B: Timeline of the Policy Process ........................................................................................ 103 Appendix C: Overview of the Utilized Codes ....................................................................................... 106 Appendix D: Key Assumptions in the Scientific Literature and the Empirical Findings of this Thesis . 135 Appendix E: Drafts and Final Acts of the Fertilization Ordinance (1996-2017)