Environmental policy of the European Union
Today, EU citizens enjoy some of the best water quality in the world" (European Commission, EAP 2020[3])The Paris Summit meeting of heads of state and government of the European Economic Community (EEC) in October 1972 is often used to pin point the beginning of the EU's environmental policy.
[5] Furthermore, the task force within the Commission that drew up this action programme eventually led to the formation of a Directorate General for the Environment.
However, the Treaty text was interpreted dynamically, enabling environmental policy to be regarded as an essential goal of the Community, even though it was not explicitly mentioned.
It was not until the middle of the 1980s and the signing of the Single European Act in 1986 that economic and ecological objectives were put on a more equal footing within the Community.
The council is a central actor in decision making in the EU sharing its decision-making power with the European Parliament under the 'ordinary legislative procedure'.
Traditionally, the European Parliament gained a reputation as a champion of environmental interests within the EU where it provided an access point for those excluded from decision making and a voice for green political parties.
[13] Over the last 40 years the EU has attracted the interest of a vast number of lobby groups including environmental NGOs.
[15] The European Commission has even actively encouraged their participation in policy making by setting up consultative committees and other bodies, and providing funds to establish and maintain certain core groups.
As a result, the proportion of EU environmental legislation that amends previous laws has steadily increased over time.
This change in both the stakes of and the key struggle in agenda setting strategies, marks a shift from 'new issues' to 'ongoing or recurring concerns'.
A significant causal factor here has been the EU's fragmented institutional and political structure, which on the one hand has facilitated the adoption of visionary policy objectives, but has also undermined their implementation.
[24] Yet, both public and academic understanding of this crucial stage of the EU policy process remains relatively limited.
Indeed, for a long time, a number of factors kept the whole issue of poor implementation down or off the political agenda, but today it is much more politicised, pushed along by the campaigning activities of NGOs and pro-integration actors such as the European Parliament.
[25] Assessing impacts and finding side-effects of policies is best achieved by a plurality of data, methods, analysts and theories, as well as evaluation criteria.
It aims at defining and implementing a transformative agenda to greening the economy and the society as a whole so to achieve a truly sustainable development.
Therefore, if one wants to understand the processes and outcomes of international environmental negotiations, one needs to be familiar with the role that the EU plays.
The EU is often observed as a leader in global environmental politics, but its leadership role can nowadays also be questioned, especially in the area of climate change.
The bill requires from companies who want to import 14 products: soy, beef, palm oil, timber, cocoa, coffee, pork, lamb, goat meat, poultry, rubber, charcoal,[28] and printed paper to the European Union to prove the production of those commodities is not linked to areas deforested after 31 of December 2019.
[29] When the EEC was established, environmental protection, let alone the broader concept of sustainable development, was not perceived as an important policy issue.
The concept of sustainable development contains environmental, social and economic dimensions; finding practical ways to balance the three is widely regarded as a key challenge.
The legal formalisation of the EU's commitment to sustainable development as a policy objective was completed by the Lisbon Treaty.
[36] A draft of the sustainable development section of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US was leaked to The Guardian in October 2015.
[37] According to Joseph E. Stiglitz, TTIP could have a "chilling" effect on regulation and thus "undercut urgently needed action on climate that the Paris Agreement requires".
This draft could sabotage European efforts to implement mandatory energy savings measures and to favour the switch to renewable electricity generation.
The law is a core element of the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy and makes the targets set therein for the "restoration of nature" binding.
