The EU on the environmental path
Introduction
The European Union (EU) is a local political and economic union between 28 member-states. However, apart from its domestic political significance it is also considered as an important international actor, which participates in the ongoing debates concerned with number of issues. These issues go beyond traditional security and economic threats along with questions posed to the members of such international organizations as the United Nations (UN). Thus, apart from negotiation or evaluation of traditional threats, such matters as environmental problems, poverty, illiteracy ect. became an important part of global and international political agenda. As a result of increasing public concern and awareness of the ecological problems, the “politicization” of environmental agenda impacted on creation of number of international and regional resolutions to be involved into daily politics of states.
The EU ratified the UN treaties on the environmental protection and adopted its own regulations to comply with them and consequently create its own environmental policies. In other words, the main aim of the EU was to become a global leader in advancing this field. Thus, in 1980s there was an increasing wave of environmentalism, with inclusion of “green” parties to the empowered European Parliament (Hey 2005, 22), along with increased interest in completion of the single market agenda in Europe (Yesilada and Wood 2010, 43). Thus, enhancing similar environmental standards, increased public access on the agenda-setting process in the EU institutions, and international political trends were the main reasons for environmental direction of the EU politics.
Nevertheless, there existed other issues underlyi...
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The enlargement of the European Union (EU) in 2004 and 2007 has been termed as the largest single expansion of the EU with a total of 12 new member states – bringing the number of members to 27 – and more than 77 million citizens joining the Commission (Murphy 2006, Neueder 2003, Ross 2011). A majority of the new member states in this enlargement are from the eastern part of the continent and were countries that had just emerged from communist economies (EC 2009, Ross 2011), although overall, the enlargement also saw new member states from very different economic, social and political compared to that of the old member states (EC 2009, Ross 2011). This enlargement was also a historical significance in European history, for it saw the reunification of Europe since the Cold War in a world of increasing globalization (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). For that, overall, this enlargement is considered by many to have been a great success for the EU and its citizens but it is not without its problems and challenges (EC 2009, Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011). This essay will thus examine the impact of the 2004/2007 enlargements from two perspectives: firstly, the impact of the enlargements on the EU as a whole, and thereafter, how the enlargements have affected the new member states that were acceded during the 2004/2007 periods. Included in the essay will be the extent of their integration into the EU and how being a part of the Commission has contributed to their development as nation states. Following that, this essay will then evaluate the overall success of the enlargement process and whether the EU or the new member states have both benefited from the accessions or whether the enlargement has only proven advantageous to one th...
The development of environmental regimes involves a five-fold process. The first process is the agenda setting and issue definition stage, which identifies and brings attention to an issue to the international community. Secon...
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