Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and water pollution from their old-fashioned and inefficient factories and
mines. The EU required the Eastern countries to meet high standards for
economic, legal, and democratic procedures. In 2004, it admitted eight
new members: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. It also admitted Malta and Cyprus, small
islands in the Mediterranean Sea. At that time Romania and Bulgaria
were not considered ready but were admitted 3 years later. Croatia joined
in 2013. Switzerland would be an ideal member, but it has chosen not
to join. When Norway proposed joining, it citizens voted against it in a
popular referendum. Turkey applied but has not been accepted, and many
Europeans are opposed.
The legal basis of the EC remained unchanged from the Treaty of Rome
until 1986 when the members signed the Single European Act with the
purpose of deepening integration. The act strengthened the power of the
European Parliament to discuss proposed laws and increased the areas in
which the Council of Ministers could pass laws without a requirement of
a unanimous vote. The original requirement for all countries to approve
decisions unanimously proved more and more difficult as membership
increased from 6 to 15.
The act added explicit authority regarding the environment. Part of the
impetus was that the new members of Greece, Spain, and Portugal were
weak in safeguards. On the other hand, the act specifies that the EEC can
only intervene in environmental matters when this action can be attained
better at EEC level than at the level of the individual country. This is called
“subsidiarity.” The European Community became the European Union
in 1993 with the Treaty on European Union signed in Maastricht in the
Netherlands.
The Council of Europe, previously called the Council of Ministers, may
be described as the upper house in the EU legislature, the lower one being
the Parliament. Its members directly represent the chief executives of
the Member States; that is, they are appointed by the prime minister of
Britain, the president of France, and so forth. They are not elected. The
particular representatives for a session depend on the topic. For example,
when discussing environmental policy, the people will be the 28 national
ministers for environmental affairs.
This body is not to be confused with the European Council, which
consists of the heads of state or of government (presidents or prime
ministers) who meet at least twice a year. This semiannual session is
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