On the Periodization of EU’s Environmental Policy Development

Abstract

The present article explores the main stages of the environmental protection policy development of the European Union. The introduced periodization is based on the scope of the basic agreements (resolutions) within the Community/The Union, taking into account the most important elements of their changes and outlining the changes in the main contractual (normative) framework, concerning directly the environment and the environmental protection. Based on the EU contractual and legal framework and the regulations of the specific environmental measures, the following stages of the Union are defined: 1. 1957 – 1987 – from the establishment of the European economic community to the entering into force of the Single European Act; 2. 1987 – 1993 – from the entering into force of the Single European Act to the EU Treaty (the Maastricht Treaty); 3. 1993 – 1999 – from the EU Treaty (the Maastricht Treaty) to the agreements of Amsterdam; 4. 1999 – 2009 – from the agreements of Amsterdam to the Lisbon Treaty; 5. 2009 – Present. The most important changes in the constituent treaties and the European secondary legislation which have a fundamental role for the development of the environmental protection policy are briefly analysed. The secondary legislation is a reflection of the process of integration within the Union (including the strengthening role of the institutions). The process of integration has its influence over the development and the applying of the environmental protection policy. The basic exogenetic factors for the evolution of the examined policy are clarified; the relation and the interdependence between the following two processes – creation and development of the contractual and legal, and institutional framework and the evolution of the environmental measures are examined. As a result of these examinations, it is concluded that: with the progress of the process of integration, the environmental protection policy became one of the basic horizontal policies of EU.