Open Access

Colette S. Vogeler, Giulia Bazzan, Johanna Künzler

• Pesticide use in agricultural production presents a significant sustainability challenge, bal-ancing crop protection against environmental and health risks. While the EU pro-vides a common regulatory framework, the implementation in the member states varies consider-ably. By means of a fsQCA we investigate the conditions for implementation success of pesticide reduction policies. Building on recent literature on differentiated policy implemen-tation (DPI) in the EU, we examine the role of political parties, interest groups, and public salience. Our findings reveal four distinct pathways to successful policy implementation: (1) high public concern and green representation in parliament compensating for weak lob-bying, (2) high-capacity interest groups exploiting high public concern even in unfavorable political climates, (3) coalitions of interest groups, green parliamentarians, and public con-cern driving implementation, and (4) high-capacity interest groups compensating for low public and political support. We thereby contribute to an improved understanding of EU environmental policy implementation.