Submitted by Maria Magalhães de Bustamante (mariamdbustamante@gmail.com) on 2017-06-26T01:21:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 FINAL.TESE MARIA 26 06 2017.docx..pdf: 2246284 bytes, checksum: 770bb1026973839512c574f5718a8d7d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rafael Aguiar (rafael.aguiar@fgv.br) on 2017-06-30T20:26:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 FINAL.TESE MARIA 26 06 2017.docx..pdf: 2246284 bytes, checksum: 770bb1026973839512c574f5718a8d7d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-05T19:56:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 FINAL.TESE MARIA 26 06 2017.docx..pdf: 2246284 bytes, checksum: 770bb1026973839512c574f5718a8d7d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-13 / Environmental licensing, in recent years in Brazil, has been the center of the great public debates, exceeding the juridical-environmental field. As a main instrument of the National Environmental Policy, responsible for making the protection of natural resources compatible with the demands imposed by the development of economic activity, the instrument assumed an excessive role in the environmental regulator sphere. However, criticism regarding the instrument is constant, especially in relation to the delay in conducting the procedure and excess of bureaucracy that might jeopardize new investments of projects that would leverage the country´s economic development. In this sense, in spite of specific problems that could compromise the effectiveness of the regulatory instrument, there are a series of structural and instrumental deadlocks that exceed its scope. Nevertheless, discussions on the subject are limited to changing the environmental licensing procedure, through reform proposals that seek to make licensing more flexible. The analysis undertaken in this dissertation intends to consider the structural aspects of the National Environmental Policy, as well as the main obstacles faced by environmental licensing procedure, in order to confirm the hypothesis of the lack of effectiveness of the regulatory instrument. The present work also intend to analyse critically the main legislative proposal regarding environmental licensing procedure, aiming to verify if this proposal has the potential to give greater effectiveness to the regulatory instrument. / O licenciamento ambiental, nos últimos anos no Brasil, vem ocupando a pauta dos grandes debates públicos, exorbitando a seara jurídica ambiental. Como instrumento principal da Política Nacional de Meio Ambiente, responsável por compatibilizar a proteção dos recursos naturais às demandas impostas pelo desenvolvimento da atividade econômica, o instrumento assumiu protagonismo excessivo na esfera regulatória ambiental. No entanto, as críticas ao instrumento revelam-se constantes, sobretudo no que se refere à morosidade e ao excesso de burocracia na condução do procedimento, inviabilizando o aporte de novos investimentos para projetos que alavancariam o desenvolvimento econômico do país. Nesse sentido, em que pese a existência de problemas específicos que comprometem a efetividade do instrumento regulatório, há uma série de impasses de ordem estrutural e instrumental que exorbitam o seu escopo. Todavia, as discussões referentes ao tema limitam-se à alteração de sua regulamentação, mediante propostas de reforma que visam flexibilizar o licenciamento sob o pretexto de solucionar o impasse ambiental. A análise empreendida na presente dissertação pretende considerar os aspectos estruturais da Política Nacional do Meio Ambiente, bem como os principais obstáculos enfrentados na condução do licenciamento ambiental, a fim de confirmar a hipótese da falta de efetividade do instrumento regulatório decorrente destes aspectos. Pretende-se ainda analisar criticamente o Substitutivo ao Projeto de Lei Geral do Licenciamento Ambiental, no objetivo de constatar se a proposta normativa confere maior efetividade ao instrumento regulatório.

This paper is a single-case study on the European Commission’s (the Commission) proposal for a directive on improving gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchange. I aim to study the decision-making process of the Directive and, by applying the theories of multi-level governance and social policy, examine to what extent the proposal was negotiated and watered down during the negotiation process. I will do this by adopting a discourse analysis approach and using qualitative data such as EU documents, country statements and articles related to the proposal, to gather an in-depth understanding of the issue.  My findings are straightforward. First, the EU social policy domain is a complex area and difficult to legislate on, within a multi-level governance system. Second, Euroscepticism is growing throughout Europe and several forces opposed the idea of more power being transferred to the EU. Lastly, Northern Member States as well as countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), held a negative position throughout the process and argued against EU interference in the domestic social policies. The above-mentioned tensions were the cause of the controversial and lengthy negotiations on the Directive and the reasons why the decision-making process of this case lasted over 10 years. However despite the clear-cut assumptions, I found that the proposal was not watered down, but in fact the opposite.