Nature and landscape goals are increasingly receiving a prominent place in the political debate within the EU. Governments all over the world are more and more aware that international agreements influence their national policy-making processes. The focus of this study was particularly on the manner that the Netherlands operates in the European arena. Four policy dossiers were selected, namely the Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the dairy sector, the Common Fishery Policy, Natura 2000 and the Water Framework Directive. An influence analysis was done with the aid of key informants in Great Britain, Denmark and Spain, as well as EU officials.