EU Membership of the UK and the Impact on the UK Policy - Case Study Example

EU Membership of the UK and the Impact on UK Policy Name: Course Name: Tutor: Date: Introduction The UK membership in the EU is as important in terms of policy making and it not only affects the policy making process of the European Union but it also has an impact on the UK’s national policy process. A number of policies bear the effect of this membership. The effect arises from, among other factors, the fact that at the EU level, there is Europeanization of many interests and thus any policy decision made by particular member state must bear in mind this Europeanization (Fairbrass and Warleigh 2002: 146-61). Among the policies that face the impact of the EU membership of the UK are the environment and the health policies, the UK’s transport Policy, the agriculture policy, employment and social policies. As matters become regional as opposed to local, the perspective at which these policies are implemented change immensely in reflection of the wider perspective which EU advocates. UK Environment and Health Policy The UK’s policy on environment and health has a long history which can be traced from the Public Health Act (1848). This act gave Boards of Health mandate to improve water supplies of water, the drainage system and sanitation. The main aim behind this was to improve the public health (Crump, 2009). The strategy that currently supports this policy has a main aim of improving the public health. Integration of environment and health considerations into the strategy helps in boosting the practicability of the strategy. For instance, planning regulations permit new building developments to be restricted or denied on the basis of quality of air (and consequently potential effects on human health).The involvement of the UK in the international environmental issues also contributes to the diverse impacts the development of polices have on the UK’s environment and health policies. Previous evaluation of the impact of EU membership on UK Environment and Health Policy In the year 2004 the impact of the UK environment and health policies was assessed in relation to the European Environment and Health Process. The result showed that there are a number of impacts that would directly accrue from the UK membership. However, the impacts and influences that the policies would have were identified to be marginal and indirect (Crump, 2009). Some of the major influences and impacts which were nevertheless indirect were augmentation of the cooperative spirit among the member states and departments in the government, increased responsiveness in relation to environmental and health issues (Crump, 2009). The awareness of states on environment and health matters would be increased more so on the international level or perspective which will have another positive effect of bringing higher political profile of the issues that concern the environment and health (Young, 2006). An implementation process that is clearly spelt is paramount for the success of the policy at the national or local level. Without a clear process or indicators of implementation, the strategies that relate to environment and health are unlikely to be achieved with complete success starting at the local level (Sands, 2003). The EEHP has a major aim of providing support to the member states in their planning and implementation of individual national or international policies on environment and health matters. This aim has an overall objective or goal of improving the living and health conditions using sustainable approaches in addressing the environment and health issues. The process has had a number of outcomes in the past. There a series of conferences that have resulted from the process in the past where the first of such an outcome was accounted for in the late 1980s while others following in the 90s as well as 2004 (Young, 2006). Another impact of the European Union membership on the UK comes from the fact that the UK planners have focused their attention a great deal on spatial planning for developing devolved administrations especially in Brussels and this policy is likely to face external influence due to the fact that the European Union has various measures which are likely to impact on the UK planning policies (Stefanie, 2002). UK regional policy, its policy on environment, policy on agriculture, on transport, urban policy and policy on coastal zone management are to face an immense impact as a result of the EU membership. Whereas these areas are affected by the EU membership, the real development effects would originate from the economic and monetary merging of the countries and the ultimate achievement of the single market. In light of the enlargement of the EU, the increase in the number of member states has considerable territorial impacts. One impact is that there has to be a reform in the manner in which funds are distributed and the way eligibility for them is determined (Young, 2006). An integrated premeditated approach to planning is as a result required. Such an approach must co-ordinate various policy domains and different levels of government in order to handle the varied demands on limited space. This creates the need for improvement in both the horizontal and the vertical strategy amalgamation and to consider the territorial bearing the policies would have at the EU level. A framework that is proposed by the ESDP (European Spatial Development Perspective) backs up the EU sustainable development strategy which aims to ensure co-operation among the member states and bolster spatial planning on the trans-national level. A further influence in the UK spatial planning sprouts from the creation of ESPON which was intended to perk up the development of the European regional development drifts and patterns (Stefanie, 2002). Environmental policy has developed and matured from a few primarily technical measures and become a body of about two hundred pieces of legislation. These pieces of legislation cover a wide range of environmental issues from water through to waste and biodiversity as well as the nature of the conservation. The environmental policy has an impact that requires an assessment of the impact of the plans to be made. There is need for evaluation of the environmental impact of every spatial planning action within the EU boundaries. This assessment is as bound by the agreement made in 2001 in the sustainable development strategy of the European Union. For this reason, better policy integration is needed hence the actions that relate to spatial planning are subject to environmental impact evaluation. Impact on the UK Agricultural policy Agricultural policy encompasses financial support, rural development and direct aid. The rural development policy targets to provide support for the extensive rural economy and to add to improving the quality of life in rural areas. The strategy on rural development incorporates special environmental actions, recognized as agro-environment measures. Given that the measures are the lone constituent of the integrated rural improvement programs which had to be submitted to the commission by the member states. The most significant funding system for integrated rural improvement which has had a considerable impact on the spatial planning was the 2000- 2006 community initiative. From that community initiative, gave rise to another co-operation on the spatial planning through the INTERREG initiative. The INTEREG initiative encourages every trans-national region (from the seven regions created in the 1994- 1999 INTEREG program) to come with a spatial vision which should be a well developed and framed strategic framework. The vision documents are to offer a connection between the ESDP and national and regional policies, and give a schedule for upcoming cooperation on spatial planning. given that the UK is part of the area covered by four of the eleven spatial visions, the impact of the EU membership on the UK policy is apparent in that the strategies that are laid down in the spatial vision have an influence on any future policy devised by the UK at both national and regional level and any projects that the UK would devise in the future. The influence of the INTEEREG on the UK policy can be seen on the significance the budget of the program. The funds made available for the projects are expected to be spent on the identified projects in accordance with ESD approach. In addition, it is mandatory for all the trans-national regions to prepare trans-national spatial visions. The trans-national spatial visions developed lay down guidelines that have to be adhered to and the guidelines have to correspond to those set by the ESD approach. The mechanism of issuing the structural funds have been reformed thus bringing more integration in the regional programs hence impacting more on local policies. The structural funds program aim to reduce the difference exhibited between the richest regions and the poorest ones in the European Union. The impact on the UK Transport Policy The European Union has the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-Transport) which is intended to offer a contribution to the operation of the single market and the subsequent strengthening of the economic and social cohesion. Given the stress put on the single market strategy, the policy on transport encourages the development of the transport links among the member states. The transport policy has a significant influence on the UK spatial planning policy since community expansion activities need to be boosted to further the development. The impact of the EU membership on the UK Employment Policy The directives of the European Union on the Employment policy underscore laws on various issues which include; data protection, collective redundancies, discrimination, transfer of responsibilities, equal pay, health and safety, protection of atypical workers among other areas (DBERR, 2009). The UK is likely to be affected and bear a significant brunt of the EU’s regulation of these directives. Just as the United Kingdom has in the recent past had to deal with key adjustments to the UK employment rights (whose origin basically emanates from Europe), the impact of the directives on UK law regarding employment and employee rights is seemingly set to persist (DBERR, 2009). The EU directives also provide guidance on the rights of the workers transferred from other countries to EU countries or those transferred within the EU boundaries. This directive on the posted workers is of key importance considering the impact it may have on the employment policy of the UK. There are still other proposed directives which will still have an impact on the employment policy of the UK. One such directive is the proposed amendment on the working time. The impact of the EU treaties on the employment matters The European Union Treaties lay down the EU’s capabilities in all the policy areas. These areas of competence include employment and social policy. The fundamental rights set in the EU constitutional treaty have applicable relevance at the workplace. One of the treaties that has an impact on the UK employment policy is the one which stipulates that the member states within the Union should work towards coming up with a harmonized strategy for employment. As a result, every member must ensure that the employment policy it comes up with at the national level coincides with the EU’s. In 2001, the EU passed a resolution pledging to make the Union the most dynamic and competitive economy in the whole world by the year 2010. The EU Treaties are accompanied by commitments which influence the conditions availed for the employee at the work place. The commitments are generally aimed at improving the living and working standards of employees with a view to synchronization, appropriate social protection; better channel of communication between management and labor; the improvement of human resources with a view to durable high employment; and dealing with exclusion. The measures put forth by the EU should respect the need to uphold economic competitiveness. Additionally, EU membership by a country is subject to the country’s adherence to the commitment of modernization of social security systems. Fighting any social exclusion should a priority too. In order for the commitments to be achieved by the member states, the EU promotes cooperation between member states of the European Union and to come up with any legislation which institutes the legal minimum requirements that each member state must implement into its national policies. Influence on the implementation period and time The directives of the EU have an implementation date specified which time it is expected that every country (member country in the European Union) must infuse the directives into national law. In a ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) the member states may only come up with policy measures that coincide with the particular directives but not those measures which counter the directives. The UK has to thus implement its policies in consideration to the provisions of the directives. In the event that the UK fails to implement the EU directives or laws, or if it implements it but inadequately (or even incorrectly) the possibility is that a legal action may be taken by the European Commission against the country. It can be remembered how such a move happened in mid 2004 when the Commission launched proceedings against a number of European Union member states for either late implementation or inadequacy in implementation or a combination of the two. The judgments reached by the ECJ have so far had immense impact in the field of employment protection, specifically in the area of reassignment of responsibilities, equal treatment and pay. The impact of the directives on the UK is still considerable especially when it is considered that when the ECJ makes judgments on a given member state in relation to the employment directives, the judgments passed on as regards the laws and policy measures of one country also bear connotations for the policies of another member state. Repeated failure in implementation of a particular directive may see the country pay fine on daily basis till the national law is amended in accordance with the relevant directive. In spite of the fact that the relations with EU are sole responsibility of the UK Parliament and Government, EU membership in the EU creates aspects which impact on individual devolved areas. The UK has ability to pursue a further active and productive approach to the European Union. There will therefore be need to ensure that steps are taken to so that all the devolved areas of the UK play a role in enhancing the policy implementation process. Therefore, the devolved areas of the UK must play a role which is fully realized for instance in the representation and activities in the EU councils. In light of the fact that there is need for the UK to have domestic voices that are clear and distinct to act as a source of strength in the process of policy implementation, the contribution of the devolved areas of the UK will have to be stressed further. The Europeanization of most interests brings in another challenge to the UK: need for revision of strategic objectives so that in the long run, there is a modified resource base to support the revised strategy. Since interests like the environmental groups are also Europeanized, there will be need for them to be transformed through policy formulation so that they can fit the need of the wider perspective. General impacts on UK Policy, plans and practice As long as there is a significant focus is put on bringing together the environment interests and health concerns from a multi-sectoral background. Proper policies shave to be developed which ensure that initiatives come up with go in line with the European directives. There is wide-ranging consensus, from different perspectives that the impact of EU membership on the UK environment and health policies is not direct or that big. Nevertheless, one strategy that is likely to have an impact on the EU membership of the UK is the sustainable development policy. The impact the policy has on the EU is that it is likely to augment awareness and encourage the departments of governments to entrench sustainable development; plus any other related environmental and health concerns into their work (Fairbrass and Warleigh 2002). One question that remains is why the policy would have little direct effect on the UK membership in the European Union. First of all, one major assumption is that the directives issued by the European Union take the centre stage in driving the development of the environment and health policies. In addition, the UK environment and health policy is by extension a duplication of the position the European Union holds concerning the same issues. Through the initiatives of the UK in relation to the environment and health policy plans, health and environment strategies in the central and Eastern Europe would be developed through harmonized programs aimed at building consensus for supporting and developing the strategies. In the past, the UK has not had many issues to address under the environment and health policy initiatives. The key influence in the UK membership in the EU is domestic concerns related to the UK, for instance the transport part of the policy. This area is likely to cause a substantial influence. It must however be acknowledged that the United Kingdom has to take the initiatives of the European Union into consideration when building up its policies and plans. It would need to consider such issues as the EEHP (European Environment and Health Process, which is also supported by the World Health Organization). The influence of the World Health Organization on the membership of the UK comes in terms of the guidelines it lays down on drinking water quality (Sands, 2003). Conclusion The directives issued at the EU level in relation to various policies have a considerable brunt on the national policies made by the UK. For this matter, the impact of such directives on these policies cannot be overlooked. Added to the fact that the European Commission can at any time review the directives, membership of the UK in the EU will continue having varied impacts on the UK’s environment and the health policies, its transport Policy, its policy on agriculture, employment policy as well as its social policies. Therefore, due to the wider perspective incorporated in the EU spirit, the perspective at which these policies are implemented is bound to change immensely in reflection of the wider perspective which EU advocates as the reviews are made on the directives. References: Crump, H., 2009 “UK warning over EU health plans” Health Service Journal http://www.hsj.co.uk/news/policy/uk-government-warns-over-eu-health-plans/5000715.article Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 2009 “European Union Employment Directives” http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employment-legislation/employment-directives/index.html Fairbrass, J., and Warleigh, A., 2002 “Influence and interests in the European Union: the new politics of persuasion and advocacy” Routledge Publications Sands, P., 2003. “Principles of International Environmental Law” Second Edition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Smith R. and Richards T, 1994 “Mode of Development of European Health Policy” British Medical Journal; 309:116–121. Stefanie, D., 2002 “EU policy influence on land use planning in Britain” London: Publication of Town and Country Planning Young J., 2006 “Impact of the EU Directive on Environmental Liability on UK Policy’ Oxford: Oxford University Press Read More