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This paper improves our understanding of failed implementation in the European Union by studying a case whereby a member state has transposed legislation but failed to comply with it. Drawing on existing literature on transposition deficits, this paper creates a framework for interrogating implementation failures in the EU's multi‐level governance system. It is applied to a Hungarian case study to explain why parts of the country continue to deliver drinking water that exceeds the Drinking Water Directive's limits for arsenic, creating a public health risk. The failure to comply is shown to be a series of linked implementation deficits at every level of the governance system. Processes of horizontal and vertical disintegration are clearly demonstrated. The conclusions make policy recommendations with wider relevance to other cases of failed implementation. Recommendations are also made for research that uses our framework as a starting point to understand the drivers behind individual deficits. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Environmental assessment (EA) systems in the countries-in-transition (CITs) in Central and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia have been significantly reformed over the last decade. Considerable research efforts have focused on the degree to which EA in this region conforms to best international practice, functions well and results in environmental and democratic improvements. This article examines the evolution of such research and proposes to expand its agenda and methodology to include a policy-systems approach that would more accurately take account of the complexity of EA systems, especially in the constantly changing and institutionally volatile environment of the CITs.

Despite the relatively high potential contribution of renewable energy sources (RES) to the energy mixes of the countries in Central Europe and the officially stated support for RES deployment, progress towards implementing that commitment has been slow. This article examines the content and coherence of support schemes for the promotion of RES adopted by the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. We argue that RES support schemes suffer from some weaknesses that are a function of the means by which renewable energy objectives were imported into the region. The preparations for accession to the EU encouraged a process of "policy transfer" of policies negotiated and designed elsewhere. Consequently, policies sometimes suffer from technical deficiencies, lack of political support, implementation and enforcement obstacles. The challenge now is to review the policies adopted during the transition period, rationalise their legal superstructure, and implement them in the context of well-developed strategic objectives with political and stakeholder understanding and support.

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