1. The Environmental Policy of the European Union
1. The Environmental Policy of the European Union
Environmental protection did not figure among the community policies during the initial stage of European integration. Neither the agreement signed in 1951 founding the European Coal and Steel Community nor the one signed in 1957 establishing the European Economic Community contains provisions that are explicitly environmental in nature. Up to 1986, no formal changes had taken place in this regard.
In the late 1960s alternative economic theories questioning economic development as an absolute objective gained increasing importance. Environmental problems such as acid rain and the deterioration of water quality also became more prevalent in this period. Whereas environmental measures and laws had been drafted earlier, responding to the challenges, the Community also began legislative work in this sector from the late 1960s. Even though the founding agreements did not directly provide legal authorization for this, many environmental laws were born in response to Article 235 facilitating legislation for the achievement of the Community’s general goals on the one hand, and pursuant to Article 100 of the EEC Treaty ensuring a uniform internal market on the other hand.
At the Paris Summit in 1972 the heads of state and government officially recognized the need to protect the environment, and initiated the launch of Community environmental action programs in a decree. The first action program was started in 1973, followed by four others. The sixth one will be launched in 2001.
Formally speaking, a common environmental policy has only been in existence since the Single Europe Act of 1986, which incorporated an independent environmental chapter in the EEC Treaty. The Maastricht Treaty on European Union signed in 1992 and the Amsterdam Convention signed in 1997 further consolidated the environmental considerations of essential law, as a result of which the requirement for sustainable development and the integrated resolution of environmental problems had become the underlying principles of the founding treaty.
In addition to the action programs defining priorities and key action principles and the ever expanding statutory regulations, the achievement of environmental goals is fostered by financial instruments as well within the European Union. Major resources are available under Structural Funding and the Cohesion Fund, though programs serving environmental purposes either fully (the LIFE program) or partly (R&D framework program) also exist, and loans granted by the European Investment Bank can also be devoted to such ends.
With key rules of law numbering more than 200 environmental law has now become a major part of EC legislation. Several generations of laws have been elaborated over the past decades regarding the same subjects of regulation (e.g., drinking water quality) within the individual applied environmental fields (e.g., water quality protection), specifying increasingly tighter environmental requirements. Significant financial resources are available in the Community, which the Member States must use effectively. How will Hungary be able to meet such requirements?
