23. Environmental Policy

2014 ◽  
pp. 432-450
Author(s):  
Vasilis Leontitsis
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the historical evolution of the European Union’s environmental policy. The environment is a relatively new policy area of the EU. It was not officially created until 1973 and acquired a sound legal basis in the Treaties only with the passage of the Single European Act (SEA) in 1987. When the European Communities were established, environmental issues were low on the political agenda. However, they increasingly became more prominent at both national and European levels, and there is now a comprehensive environmental policy at the EU level. The chapter first provides a historical overview of the EU’s environmental policy, from the SEA to the Maastricht Treaty and the Treaty of Lisbon, before discussing recent developments and some of the major issues of current concern. It also explores the policy’s evolution by drawing on intergovernmentalism, neofunctionalism, and governance theories.

22. Environment and Climate

2020 ◽  
pp. 414-430
Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Owen Parker ◽  
Ian Bache ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Charlotte Burns
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Policy Sector ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
Environmental Diplomacy ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Eu

This chapter examines the evolution of the European Union’s (EU) environmental policy. The environment is a relatively new policy area of the EU. It was not officially created until 1973 and acquired a sound legal basis in the Treaties only with the passage of the Single European Act (SEA) in 1987. When the EU was established, environmental issues were low on the political agenda. However, they have become increasingly important at both national and European levels, and there is now a comprehensive environmental policy at the EU level and the EU has developed a reputation as an environmental leader in international environmental diplomacy, especially on climate change. The chapter first explains the main drivers for the development of the EU’s environmental policy, before discussing recent developments, and some of the major issues of current concern. It concludes by evaluating the theoretical leverage of the key integration theories for explaining and critiquing this policy sector.

Principle of Subsidiarity and the EU Environmental Policy

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas de Sadeleer
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Environmental Legislation ◽  
Member States ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
The Eu

The principle of subsidiarity is a fundamental principle of the European Union. It has first been introduced in the field of environmental policy by the Single European Act in 1987 and extended to all fields of shared competencies by the Maastricht treaty in 1992. Since then much has been done to operationalize the principle, and subsidiarity has received increasing attention by the Union’s institutions and Member States. The following contribution provides a brief appraisal of the role of the principle and of how it has influenced environmental legislation, so far.

13. Environmental Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 297-320
Author(s):  
Andrea Lenschow
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Policy Coordination ◽  
Historical Evolution ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Environmental Interest Groups ◽  
The Eu

This chapter focuses on the European Union’s environmental policy, the development of which was characterized by institutional deepening and the substantial expansion of environmental issues covered by EU decisions and regulations. Environmental policy presents a host of challenges for policy-makers, including the choice of appropriate instruments, improvement of implementation performance, and better policy coordination at all levels of policy-making. The chapter points to the continuing adaptations that have been made in these areas. It first considers the historical evolution of environmental policy in the EU before discussing the main actors in EU environmental policy-making, namely: the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and environmental interest groups. The chapter also looks at the EU as an international actor.

Sliding Towards EC Membership: Norway in Scandinavian Perspective

1992 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 330-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Svåsand ◽  
Ulf Lindström
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Abrupt Change ◽  
Internal Market ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
European Continent ◽  
Single European Act ◽  
East West

THIS ARTICLE ADDRESSES THE PROBLEM OF NORWEGIAN membership in the EC. Why is it so difficult for Norway to follow in the tracks of Sweden and Finland, and for that matter the rest of Western Europe?The changes on the European continent since the collapse of the East-West divide have also altered the political agenda in the Scandinavian countries. The ambitions of the EC-internal market as well as the Single European Act speeded up a discussion of how Finland, Norway and Sweden should position themselves in order not to lose out economically and become marginalized politically. In Norway, the traumatic EC debate in 1972 had split the country, and the parties, into two camps, resulting in the rejection of EC membership by 53 per cent of the electorate. Since then, the issue has been absent from political debate. In Finland and Sweden the official rationale for not discussing the issue disappeared simultaneously with the regimes in Eastern Europe, suddenly pushing the topic onto the political agenda, causing an abrupt change in Swedish EC policy.

scholarly journals European Integration: One Electoral Promise Not Taken

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Ilda Rusi
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Political Class ◽  
The Eu ◽  
The Way

The process of European Union membership is a national objective, in view of the democratization and transformation of the Albanian society, in accordance with the values and principles of the United Europe. This sentence is taken from the Official Site of the Prime Minister of Albania. This message but expressed in other words seems to be there standing since 1992, when in Albania for the first time was articulated the desire for national integration of the country. After more than twenty years, the question that concerns me mostly is that why my country is not part of the big European family? What happened in these twenty-two years to prevent this process or to accelerate it? The first thing that comes to my mind after the last rejection candidate status on December, last year, is that this is a promise that none of the Albanian government has not yet managed to achieve. On my opinion, this process is strictly associated with the willing of all determinant political actors to collaborate and to manifest democratic political culture through dialogue. European integration is a slogan used in every political campaign, as a key element of the political agenda all political parties but in. It helps a lot during the electoral campaign but unfortunately we are still waiting for. Thus, I think that the integration process is not related only to the Albanian desire for participating in the EU, but mostly to the political class attitude. It is true that every time that the government does not achieve the candidate status, the political parties to blame each other for retarding the integration process. Even though, different scholars emphasize the role of EU in the process of integration, I believe that the country's democratization is a process strongly related to the political elite performance and the way they manifest politics. Albanian political class must admit that the real problem in this process is the way that it makes politics and how it makes political decision. In this article, I argue that the European integration is a process which can be successful only if all political parties in Albania understand that this is an obligation that they have with Albanian citizens and that cannot be realized if all of them are not committed to. This ambitious goal can be achieved only when the EU priority reforms are going to be established and in Albania there are going to operate functional and free institutions based on meritocracy and democratic system of operation far away from politics.

Subsidiarity as a Subject of Battle in European Union Politics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kees van Kersbergen ◽  
Bertjan Verbeek
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Maastricht Treaty ◽  
Lisbon Treaty ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

Since the Maastricht Treaty (1993), subsidiarity has guided the political process surrounding the distribution of competences between administrative layers in the European Union (EU). The EU’s subsidiarity regime affects the politics and governance of the EU, because the notion of subsidiarity allows for continuous negotiation over its practical use. The constant battle over subsidiarity implies that the notion changes its meaning over time and alters the power relations between different actors within the EU. Since the Lisbon Treaty (2009), subsidiarity has mainly strengthened the position of member states at the expense of the Commission.

The European Union in the Mediterranean Sea: Navigating the Political-Legal Shallows

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 271-298
Author(s):  
Stephan F.H. Ollick
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Mediterranean Sea ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Regime Complex ◽  
International Migrants ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Eu

The Mediterranean Sea has long been an important and perilous route for international migrants from the coast of North Africa to the European Union (EU). Manygrants and refugees travelling on overcrowded and unseaworthy dinghies do not survive the crossing. Rising numbers of fatalities put pressure on the EU to address the Mediterranean tragedy with renewed urgency. Frontex Operation Triton (2014–) and the naval mission eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA (2015–) were launched to survey and influence migratory flows. Although thousands of migrants and refugees have thus been delivered from distress at sea, casualty rates remain staggeringly high. Some commentators and organizations have dismissed Frontex and eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA as vehicles of an isolationist political agenda. This overlooks the narrow legal, political and practical confines within which these initiatives operate. Frontex and eunavfor med Operation SOPHIA seek to attain a level of control necessary for the delayed implementation of more ambitious and forward-looking schemes. The unsophisticated, temporary nature of the regime complex currently governing the EU’s activities in the Mediterranean Sea manifests in ambiguous language, in frequent and disparate amendments, and in the brevity of the mandates thus dispensed.

W(h)ither the Human Rights of Indigenous Australians (From Wik to Wickedness?)

1998 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Indigenous Australians ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Native Title ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
The Government

AbstractThe international community is increasingly concerned with indigenous rights. The essence of the claims that international law seeks to accommodate involves the ability of indigenous people to make decisions about social, cultural, economic and environmental matters in their region. This paper looks at some aspects of the human rights of indigenous Australians from that perspective. It contains three interlocking sections. The first section outlines the background to the Australian High Court decision in Wik Peoples v. Queensland in which the majority of the Court said that aboriginal native title to land could co-exist with pastoral lease activity. The second part looks at the furore provoked by this decision, advancing arguments about the media and political treatment of the issue. Here we contend, doubtless rhetorically ourselves, that the Australian government has moved from Wik to Wickedness in dealing with this issue. The third part looks at recent developments and offers some conclusions as to where the legal resolution of native title to land in Australia might have emerged. In our conclusion we also consider the direction of the political and legal debate since the Australian Labor Party led by Paul Keating lost the 1996 election in a landslide, and the increasing narrowness of an economically conservative political agenda. Our overall theme, which stems directly from that, is the paucity of the political debate over Australian indigenous human rights. Rhetoric has abounded and could prompt many questions about the political debate in Australia over this issue, and the obligations of politicians. Law has formed a vital background to this: at time lauded, at times rejected vehemently by the Government.

scholarly journals Can EU Civil Society Elites Burst the Brussels Bubble? Civil Society Leaders’ Career Trajectories

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 86-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayeon Lindellee ◽  
Roberto Scaramuzzino
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Revolving Doors ◽  
The Eu

The Brussels-based civil society organizations (CSOs) have been conceived by the EU to act as a bridge between the bureaucratic elites and the citizens of Europe. The institutionalized presence of the major EU-based CSOs has, however, called their legitimacy into question, as exemplified by notions such as ‘revolving doors’ implying homogeneous social, educational, and professional backgrounds shared by both EU officials and CSO leaders. This article therefore asks the following questions: To what extent do the leaders of EU-based CSOs merely reproduce the types of capital that mirror those of the political elites in the so-called ‘Brussels bubble’? To what extent do the CSO leaders bring in other sets of capital and forms of recognition that are independent of the Brussels game? How can we explain differences in the salience of EU capital found across policy areas, types of leadership positions, and types of organizations? Empirically, this article qualitatively analyzes the career trajectories of 17 leaders of EU-based peak CSOs that are active in social and environmental policy areas. Despite the highly integrated and institutionalized characteristics shared by all organizations, we find diversity in the composition of the leaders in terms of the extent to which their career trajectories are embedded in the EU arena.

External Environmental Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 316-358
Author(s):  
Jan Wouters ◽  
Frank Hoffmeister ◽  
Geert De Baere ◽  
Thomas Ramopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Environmental Negotiations ◽  
Internal Struggle ◽  
The Eu

This chapter recalls how the EU started to become engaged in the international protection of the environment. It explains in detail the ECJ case law on the choice of legal basis under EU law when an international agreement contains both aspects of commercial policy and environmental protection. It also analyses the internal struggle between the EU institutions on how to conduct international environmental negotiations. The chapter includes a case study about the EU’s role in combating climate change and underlines the important contribution of the EU in the operation of numerous international environmental conventions.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document