EUROPEAN UNION Environmental Policy

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EUROPEAN UNIONEnvironmental Policy
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Evolution of environmental policy

• EU institutional arrangements have evolved mainly
  through treaties.
• Growing popular distress about environmental
  degradation, impact of a number of highly
  publicized environmental disasters,
  politicization of the environmental movement
  account for the EUs increasing involvement in
  the environmental area.
• First at their summit in Paris in 1972, EU
  leaders called for an EC environmental policy.

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Evolution of environmental policy

• Within a year, the Commission proposed and the
  Council adopted the first Environmental Action
  Program (EAP),
• 1981 the Commission establishes a separate
  directorate-general to deal with environmental
  issues.
• Based on the SEA the Commission pursued a new
  approach, making environmental policy an integral
  part of other policies.

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Evolution of environmental policy

• TEU importance of taking environmental policy
  into account when formulating and implementing
  other EU policies. Allowed financial support from
  the Cohesion fund to poorer states to compensate
  for the high costs of environmental legislation.
• Only those member states with a per capita GNP of
  less than 90 of the EU average will be entitled
  to such support.
• Introduced the cooperation procedure for most
  environmental measures, and co-decision for
  general action programs.

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Evolution of environmental policy

• Treaty of Amsterdam extended the coverage of the
  codecision procedure to most areas covered by the
  cooperation procedure, from fifteen to
  thirty-eight, including the environment.
• Enshrined the principle of sustainable
  development as one of the EUs main concerns.
• Environmental protection requirements must be
  integrated into the definition and implementation
  of Community policies and activities.

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Evolution of environmental policy

• Amsterdam allowed for exception to environmental
  rules, as long as proposed national measures were
  based on new scientific evidence and the problem
  being addressed was specific to the member state
  proposing the exceptional measures.
• Legislation directed towards the protection of
  the environment, but unconnected to the single
  market, is passed under the codecision procedure
  (Article 130s).
• Legislation linked to trade and economic issues
  (Article 100a) is passed under the basic
  consultation procedure and still requires
  unanimity from the Council of Ministers, but does
  allow for stricter national standards in
  countries that want to adopt them individually.

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Subsidiarity

• According to the principle of subsidiarity
  members concede some policy areas as the
  exclusive competence of the EU especially when
  matters of efficiency arise when it is more
  sensible for the EU to act.
• Under this principle responsibilities for
  implementation should be assigned to the lowest
  level government that can adequately perform
  them.
• However, the body responsible for initiating such
  legislation, the Commission, does it in the form
  of directives..

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Actors and processes

• The Commission
• The Environment DG initiate and define new
  environmental legislation and to ensure that
  measures, which have been agreed, are actually
  put into practice in the Member States. The
  Environment DG is based largely in Brussels and
  has around 550 staff.
• Carries out these tasks based on its own
  initiative, complaints from citizens, NGOs or
  businesses, questions from members of the
  European Parliament and petitions received by the
  European Parliament exposing possible
  infringements of Community law.

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Actors and processes

• When it comes to the environment sector for 2001,
  the Commission acted on own-initiative 111
  times out of 272 for all sectors (40.8),
  received 587 complaints out of 1300 total
  (41.3), and had 113 non-communication cases
  (18.6) out of 607 for all sectors.

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Actors and processes

• The European Parliament
• When a proposal comes under Article 100a the
  Parliament is least effective as it
  responsibilities conclude in basic consultation
  with the Commission.
• EP has strongly supported the Commissions use of
  Article 130s as the legal base for the issuance
  of directives concerning the environment which
  triggers the codecision procedure.

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The Commission proposes new legislation
The EP co-decides (130s)
The EP Consults (100a)
The Council of Ministers Decides
The ECJ Adjudicates
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Actors and processes

• The Council of Ministers
• Sole decision-making body of the EU when it comes
  to environmental matters connected to the
  internal market.
• Weakens the restrictions proposed by the
  Commission because a great deal of
  intergovernmental bargaining is needed to reach a
  compromise.
• The battle used to be decided between the six
  green members (Germany, Holland, Denmark,
  Austria Sweden and Finland) otherwise called the
  leaders and the remaining members called the
  laggards.

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Problems of enforcement
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Problems of enforcement
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Problems of enforcement
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Environment and enlargement

• Even though the Europe agreements and the PHARE
  program provided financial assistance to help
  bring those countries up to EU environmental
  standards the situation was bad.
• Only some transitional periods were granted for
  implementation of environmental legislation.
• The stress to the Cohesion fund is expected to
  become unbearable.

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Environment and enlargement

• There is no provision for states supported by the
  Cohesion fund in the implementation of
  environmental policy relating to compliance or
  compliance levels.
• The Southern Enlargement of the 80s brought an
  increase of 40 between 1989-90 in opened
  infringement proceedings, for which Greece,
  Spain, and Portugal were single-handedly
  responsible.

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What Lies Ahead?

• Babel or Integration?