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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Before starting the story of the passage to the Union, Van Middelaar identifies three types of discourses and three types of spheres that illustrate the diversity in understanding the nature of the EU. He explains: intergovernmentalism (Offices and States discourses), supranationalism (Offices and Citizens discourses), and constitutionalism (States and Citizens discourses). By identifying and explaining these discourses, the author shows the limits of previous studies of the EU because “each of the three discourses encourages an illusion that can blind its supporters to the historicity of politics.” (p.10). He has distanced himself from this “illusion” and has used a unique approach that considers the effect of time, which is “the link between past, present, and future” (p.11). The author then identifies three different spheres to analyze the political nature of Europe. The first sphere is the outer sphere which represents the geographical limits of Europe and the sovereignty of each state in the Union. The second sphere is the inner sphere that has started with the treaty of Paris in 1951 that established the European Coal and Steel Community and that represents the institutional and co...
The European Union (EU), since the initial foundation in 1952 as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and throughout periods of development, has been considered one of the most advanced forms of regional integration. It, based on numerous treaties and resolutions, has strived to promote values such as peace, cooperation or democracy, and in 2012 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for having “contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe” (Nobel Media AB, 2012). Despite its struggle for promoting democracy, the EU itself has long experienced scholarly criticisms that it suffers the democratic deficit, from which its democratic legitimacy is undermined by observable problems in political accountability and participation. As the importance of legitimacy in a democratically representative institution is hardly debatable, the criticism of whether and why the EU lacks democracy has been given a considerable gravity in academia.
The progress represented by the EU is progress that deserves to be shared with the people of all European nations, yet on what scale? While today’s EU leaders are more than ready to invite fellow nations to join the EU, they fail to take proper account of the future, of how this could possibly cheapen the European identity and the work that was only spurred on by two destructive World Wars.
The European Union (EU) is fundamentally democratic and is evident through its institutions, however, the current democratic electoral structure is of great concern. The EU is a new type of political system, often referred to as a sui generis, implying its uniqueness as there exists and a non comparable political body. The EU can neither regarded as a ‘state’ nor as an ‘international institution’ as it combines supranational as well as intergovernmental characteristics (Hix, 1999, p7). In this regard it has developed its own understandings of what democracy is. It is evident that the development of and spread of democracy is a central concept and foundation to all politics within the EU, and remains focuses on makings its governing institutions “more transparent and democracy”. The recent Eurozone crisis, it’s associated anti-crisis measures and the recent enlargement of EU have however re-invigorated debate about the EUs democratic legitimacy. At the heart of the debate are discussions not about whether the EU is an all-encompassing democratic institution but rather what are ‘democratic deficits’ or the democratic shortcomings that exist within this powerful economic and political union. Underpinning these divisions as Schmitter argues, are different understandings of what democracy is in the modern context and more specifically in the unique context of the EU. This essay will argue that the EU presents a unique type of political system that is fundamentally democratic, however, there are democratic shortcomings within its procedural and institutional structure.
One of the original European institutions is the Commission. Though it was one of the originals, the institution has tremendously changed from what it used to be when the European integration first began. The Commission is a supranational body responsible for legislation proposals and policy implementation. It continues to work toward a more democratic European Union every day with the new legislations and laws that it passes. In this paper I will establish why I believe the EU Commission to be a supranational body, it’s relevance to the European Union and some of the strengths and weaknesses of the institution for the citizens of the European Union.
When creating an international environmental policy, many factors come into play. The political and economic situations around the world affect how international environmental policy is made. Politicians will make decisions on policies, including environmental ones, based on what the popular thing to do is instead of what is best for the environment. If it is an election year, politicians will especially make decisions based on public opinion instead of making decisions that would reflect what is best for the environment. Another factor when making environmental policies is environmental disasters. They may require immediate polici...
Leonard, Mark, and Hans Kundnani. "Think Again: European Decline." ForeignPolicy.com. Foreign Policy Magazine, 23 Apr. 2103. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. .
The need for public participation is emphasised on the Agenda 21. The most important prerequisite for the achievement of sustainable development is participation in decision making. The need for the civil society to participate on environmental impact assessment procedures is fundamental and to also participate in decision making that will affect the community in which they reside in. people also have the right to receive prior notice of environmental risks and the right to affective remedy where the environmental damage has been
Lelieveldt, H. and Princen, S. 2011The politics of the European Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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...
Environmental issues expand into a global level, and it is not likely tackled by the country itself. A raising awareness on the environmental matter among nations, the cooperation between nations is essential. In the three articles, they have adopted different approaches to address the environmental issues. However, three of them view the problem not only in signal angle, either with inter – discipline or multi – level perspective. The authors of the three essays have indicated governments play an important role for managing those
The European Union’s environmental policy is vast and complicated. It applies to every country under the Union’s domain and its criteria must be met for any state wishing to seek membership. The European Union was not the original forerunner in environmental politics; in fact the United States “took on a leadership role in preparations for the 1972 United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment” (Kelemen). However, in the 1970s (1973 to be specific) as the US pulled away from being the environmental leader the EU emerged with it’s seven ‘Environmental Action Plans’ (EAP) (Pearce). The original aim of environmental policy was very traditional, focusing on protecting species and improving the quality of life but today the underlying aim of the policy “is to enhance natural capital, provide a resource-efficient economy and safeguard people’s health” (environment). I will first open with a brief history of the environmental policy, followed by its success and failures using concrete examples and conclude with alterations or alternatives to the policy in order to make it more successful across the European Union.
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...
There has been a tremendous attention from EU scholars about environmental policy. Since the 1970’s there has been numerous environmental crises and the emergency of an environmental, social movement in several European countries, but even after green politics in Europe quietened and environmental policy gained a ‘normal’ status in the “acquis communautaire”, this attention never subsided.
Because it could be quite complicated to look at the EU model from a point of classical democratic nation-state, it seems to be reasonable to discuss this problem, not by abstract reasoning, but by focusing on a concrete case. European Union is the best case available, which in recent decades has developed into a new type of political system with enormous consequences on democracy and governance in its member states. Despite repeated attempts for major institutional reforms, this system is likely to persist in its basic structures for the future and is unlikely to develop into a federal state or to disintegrate into a classic international organization. The present state of democracy and governance in the EU is therefore worth to be analyzed, as it is not a mere transitory state.