What conditions are responsible for policy change or continuity in the European Community? This is the general research questions guiding the empirical case study presented in this paper. European sectoral policies are-at varying degrees-in the process of integrating environmental considerations into their cores. This process has been delayed and of marginal effect in the context of the CAP. I argue in this paper that institutional structures, on the European and national levels, and the ideational history of the CAP are responsible for the relative continuity of the CAP. Triggered by a novel historical context in the mid-1980s, new institutional dynamics have emerged and the historical "path" of the CAP had been partly redirected, though. The new institutional and ideational conditions provided "access points" for policy reformers and altered previous occupation patterns of the Community's "veto points", tilting the complex decision chain of the EC in favor of policy reform. However, environmental reformers were dependent on a broad reform coalition, capable of competing with the powerful agricultural interest. In this context, environmental interests were pursued often indirectly and always as a part of a larger rural policy agenda which attributed no particular priority to the environment. The "dependent" environmental integration strategy allowed environmentalists to place a foot in the door, but it has failed to create an environmentally sustainable CAP and even favorable conditions for future reforms
