Despite the fact that environmental directives are one of the strongest areas of policy decreed by the EU, it has a much poorer record when it comes to actual implementation of these policies. Instead of focusing on the state-centrist accounts, this volume compares two subnational regionals within the EU - Scotland and Bavaria - and their role in the policy process. The author offers an implementation map which highlights three main govenment "layers" involved in the filtering process, and identifies various formal and informal determinants which shape EU environmental policies during the process. This text contributes to an understanding of the implementation deficit, and aims to present a refined picture of the "reality" of the EU environmental policy.