Britain, France, and the European Union - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 120

DG Environment seeks cleaner air. The Motor Vehicle Emissions Group
is a technical body with the purpose of working out the engineering side.
It is staffed by government and industry experts.
Technical expertise was not enough. To resolve the disagreements, the
parties met in Luxembourg in 1985 where they negotiated a compromise
that set up three categories of small, medium, and large cars, with the most
stringent standards for the large ones. The starting dates were postponed,
and as a concession to environmental demands, more stringent standards
were promised in the future. At the time, the EC required unanimous
agreement in the Council of Ministers, and Denmark vetoed the compro-
mise because it did not do enough. Fortunately, the Single European Act
came into effect soon thereafter, and the proposal got enough votes under
the new qualified majority. This was not the end, however. With more polit-
ical maneuvering, a new, different Small Car Directive was issued in 1989. 13
In recent years auto exhaust has been covered by the Framework
Directive Automotive. 14 Under its provisions the commission has promul-
gated numerous detailed regulations on emissions, safety, and so forth.
This moved EU rule making from the suggestion condition to the man-
datory condition. With greater concern with greenhouse gases since the
Kyoto Protocol, the EU has extended is scope into carbon dioxide emis-
sions, quite different from the concern with carbon monoxide, nitrogen
oxides, and particulates of the 1970s.
EU programs on water and auto exhaust illustration the “Monnet
Method,” which means that a series of small technical steps over many
years will build integration. It is named for Jean Monnet, a French civil
servant who worked closely with Robert Schuman in the 1950s to set up
the Coal and Steel Community and then the Common Market. Monnet
recognized that grand international treaties were important, of course,
but he also believed in taking many small steps. 15 He compared it to riding
a bicycle: riding forward maintains balance, but if the momentum stops,
the bicycle will fall over.
Although environmental policy has been important to the EU, and the
union has done much to promote it, there are many other aspects, some
of which have not fared as well. The logic of a Common Market led to a
common currency, the euro, which came into circulation in 2002. Not
all member states agreed to use the euro, however. The United Kingdom
maintained its own pound sterling, which was and continues to be one of
the most important international currencies. Poland, the Czech Republic,
and Romania have not been invited to join because their economies are