How efficient is joint decision-making in the EU?

This paper looks at how the joint decision-making mode of governance enhances policy effectiveness in the field of European environmental policy. This is mainly due to the as yet neglected phenomenon of the interaction between representative institutions at different levels in the European Union that characterises joint decision-making. Broader versions of this paper have been presented at the ECPR meetings in Bordeaux at the Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, in Bologna, at the IEE of Universidade Católica and the IEEI-Gulbenkian Foundation conference in Lisbon and at the max-Planck Institute in Cologne. The author is indebted to seminar participants for comments and discussions, particularly to Annette Bongardt, Erik Jones, Jonathon Moses, Suzanne Schüttemeyer and Amy Verdun.