Factors shaping European governance
Upon the signing of the Maastricht Treaty on 7 February 1992 by members of the European Community in Maastricht, the Netherlands, many policies were formed. One of them was on trans-European networks, and since then a great deal of work has been done in this area. A previous Marie Curie project on the origins of environmental policy within Europe laid the foundation for the EU-funded project 'Transnational networks in European environmental policy – path dependent or learning?' (LEARNEURPATH). Its scope reaches a step further to encompass the Maastricht Treaty formerly known as the Treaty on European Union (TEU). The aim was to probe into the longer-term agenda to determine if there is a dependency on networks and policy. The team historically traced four contrasting areas: nature protection, anti-nuclear protest, water policy and central principles of action. They carried out multi-archival research and used published materials and oral history interviews. Results show that path dependencies such as the composition of expert groups mattered, and also that there is a clear indication of learning as regards effective cooperation. Integrating previously unlinked academic databases with international-level publications is one of the main project impacts. This fills a gap concerning historical knowledge of the EU and offers the opportunity to innovatively compare societal actors across areas. The project also reintegrated the first conceptions of international organisations and environmental policy.
