COMPARISON OF SWEDISH AND SLOVENIAN EXPERIENCE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AS PART OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The objective of this paper is to analyse, compare and present different practices of sustainable development in EU member states. The paper is represented as a comparative study of policies of sustainable development in Sweden and Slovenia. These two countries were selected based on the difference in their sustainable development models. Sweden is a country characterised by a longstanding tradition of commitment towards environmental protection and sustainable development. Sweden has proven in practice that it is possible to combine a high level of economic and social welfare with the protection of the environment. Slovenia is included in the comparison as a country at the beginning of the process of implementing sustainable development, and could benefit from Sweden’s experience. Using the comparative method, the foundations of sustainable development policy are presented for both countries on the basis of the analysis and interpretation of documents; certain comparisons between official policies and the actual implementation and effects of such policies in practice are given based on various other sources (professional articles, internet sources, etc.). A comparison of the two countries will include: state structure, specific societal features, relation to the EU, governmental definition of sustainable development, and key sustainable development indicators and the progress achieved