Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
implementation of all EU law. The Council passes EU law on
rst-pillar issues together
with the European Parliament under the co-decision procedure. Members of the
Parliament are appointed through national direct elections. Parliamentary seats are dis-
tributed among member states approximately according to their population size.
The European Court of Justice is tasked to ensure uniform interpretation and applica-
tion of EU treaties and all joint legislation. The Court interprets EU treaties and legisla-
tion. Decisions by the Court have greatly facilitated European integration (Vogel, 1995;
Koppen, 1993). Since the 1970s the Court has fairly consistently supported the view that
the Community should have a broad legal competence on environmental issues and raise
environmental standards as a means to improve standards of living. The most frequent
Court procedure on environmental issues is Commission-initiated infringement proce-
dures against member states for failing to implement EU law. Member states are expected
to abide by Court ruling and generally do so. Yet if a member state fails to comply, its pun-
ishment is mostly restricted to political embarrassment since the Court has limited enforce-
ment powers. However, the Amsterdam Treaty introduced the possibility of
fi
fi
nes for
member states failing to implement Court decisions (Wurzel, 2004).
Legal issues of trade and environment
Many political and economic factors drive European integration. In the aftermath of
Wo r ld War II, German-Franco collaboration was institutionalized through the European
Coal and Steel Community in an e
ort to secure peace in Europe through the expansion
of economic and political interdependence. Economic integration and the expansion of
regional trade through the European Economic Community's internal market were seen
as a means to both promote peace and stimulate economic growth as war-torn European
countries tried to rebuild their domestic economies. The Treaty of Rome, with its focus on
security and economic issues, contained no direct mention of environmental issues, and
it did not explicitly identify any environmental responsibility for the European Economic
Community.
ff
Early legal developments
The Paris Summit in October 1972 - four months after the United Nations Conference
on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm - marked the beginning of a more
active Community engagement on environmental issues spurred by growing public
concern with air and water pollution and the accelerating use of hazardous chemicals
(Hildebrand, 1993; Krämer, 2006). Community political leaders in 1973 adopted the First
Environment Action Programme with the stated goal to 'improve the setting and quality
of life, and the surroundings and living conditions of the Community population'. Since
then,
ve more environmental action programs have been adopted, outlining basic policy
objectives and principles that should guide EU environmental policy-making and identi-
fying priority areas for action. The current Sixth Environment Action Programme covers
the period 2002-12.
Early environmental policy decisions were based on provisions pertaining to the oper-
ation of the internal market rather than environmental protection (Articles 100 and 235 of
the Treaty of Rome). As a result, much early Community environmental legislation, such
as the
fi
rst directive on hazardous chemicals from 1967, focused more on the harmoniza-
tion of regulations and standards across member states for the purpose of facilitating the
fi
