Participatory Methods within the EU Water Framework Directive: An Evaluation of Participatory Methods within the revision of the EU Water Framework Directive in the Barcelona Area, Catalunya

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Environmental Policy, grade: 1,3, Leuphana Universitat Luneburg, course: Environmental and Sustainability Studies, language: English, abstract: This essay explores in detail the participatory methods employed by the Agencia Catalana de l'Aigua (ACA) during the revision of the WFD and offers an evaluation. As the European Union attemps to tackle the challenges of handling an ever growing number of issues within its ever growing boundaries and simultaniously tries to regain democratic credibility and rebuild its relationship with its citizens, the concept of participatory governance has taken central stage in european policy making. In this paper I want to explore the following questions: What kind of participatory methods were employed by Catalonia during the second cycle of planification of the EU Water Framework Directive in order to involve citizens? How can we estimate the quality of these methods and how do they comply with the theory of participatory governance?