WHAT FACTORS DETERMINE SWEDEN PROVISION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AID TO EASTERN-EUROPE

This paper seeks to analyse the debate which has shaped Sweden's envir onmental aid programme to Eastern Europe over the past four to five ye ars, through focusing on two criteria: efficiency (both economic and e nvironmental) and responsibility, Efficiency is used to refer to using resources to obtain the maximum environmental benefit for resources e xpended, Responsibility is examined here in terms of ultimate liabilit y for the products or outcomes of aid given by one nation to another, and how it affects the recipient nation's sovereignty. Do donors give aid because they feel responsible on moral, historical or other ground s? Long-range air pollution and cleaning up the Baltic Sea are used as illustrative examples. The paper concludes by looking at the current policy and practice of Sweden's environmental assistance to Eastern Eu rope and how this has been influenced by the efficiency and responsibi lity arguments.