The Baltic Sea environment and the European Union: Analysis of governance barriers

- The choice of the analytical lens influences the conception of governance barriers.
- The choice of the analytical lens informs the intervention strategies.
- Careful consideration of barriers is crucial for the successful EU governance.
- The inadequate inclusion of Russia is the biggest governance barrier.

The EU enlargement brought the Baltic Sea into the sphere of EU environmental policymaking, making the sea, with the exception of Russia, an EU inland sea. Yet, the state of the Baltic Sea environment is deteriorating at an alarming pace. This paper describes the evolution of the EU governance of the Baltic Sea environment, focussing on governance barriers. The findings demonstrate how the choice of analytical lens influences the construction of governance barriers and the respective intervention strategies. Such understanding can help policy practitioners in their search for successful measures to improve the governance situation in the Baltic Sea region.