This article deals with the Local Agri-Environmental Schemes (LAES), the French contractual policy instrument within the European Rural Development Regulation (2007-2013), designed to improve water quality within priority watersheds. The paper is structured in three parts. The first one focuses...

"This study combines an account of Blair, Chirac, Schröder and their attitudes towards European integration. It analyzes political discourses on 'national interests' and the EU, the frequently debated role of political discourse, the concept of national interest, and offers an alternative point...