Behind the scenes: The WFD 2000/60 policy making.

This research investigates the impact of legislative negotiations in the water policy of European Union and the crucial role of the European Commission as the formal agenda setter. The coordination of EU institutions and other actors -member states, interest groups and especially "Non-Governmental Organisations"- in law-making process of Water Framework Directive(WFD) 2000/60/EC play an important role in water governance. We have demonstrated that the policy complexity in Water Framework Directive 2000/60 legislative procedure between 1996 and 2000, the complicated nature of the legislative proposal, the large number of amendments, and divergent views had significantly delayed procedures. Consequences of policy complexity in the European Union is very important for European integration and decision-making processes. Our research demonstrates that the adoption of WFD is not only a function of political or institutional factors, but it is also shows how important is the design stage of the Directive. While our study focused on the case of water policy, the question of how policy making, and delay of legislative processes affects the efficiency of EU governance.