Environmental policy making in the European Union. (2010)

Abstract

The increasing interest in environmental issues among the European Union public since the beginning of the nineteenth century, led to increasing pressure on European Union member countries and the European Union Institutions to develop environmental policies. This in many ways paved the way for the European Union to become a world leader in Environmental Policy making. The thesis shows how and why the European Union became a world leader in environmental policy making. It is true that the European Union is experiencing many contradicting views on various topics such as economy and budgeting, and that is also true for environmental issues, nonetheless, the hazards of environmental problems cannot be hidden and are pressing to deal with especially as they cross national boundaries. Moreover, the huge awareness and education that the citizens of the European Union have concerning environment and its hazards plays a very important role in exerting ongoing pressure on EU member countries’ that in turn exert pressure on the EU institutions to constantly develop policies dealing with environmental issues. The research also shows that other actors such as industries and non-governmental organizations also play a very important role during the development process as they are often consulted for technical and financial aid. NGOs also play a very vital role in lobbying for environmental policies and in supervising the implementation of the policies. Through the research, it was also found that the European Union is able to influence other parts of the world with its environmental policy development. Such influence could be made because of the European Union’s powerful economic and diplomatic relations. Using case studies the research also reflects how different European member countries responded to the environmental policy development and how policies were developed to fit with the European Union evolution. Also the thesis shows that though some countries such as Britain fell behind in developing environmental policies, they eventually responded to the pressure exerted by the EU. The thesis comes to the conclusion that though the process of environmental policy making in the European Union is very complex and time consuming, the European Union’s response to public demands of various kinds regarding environmental hazards pushed it to become a world leader in environmental policy making. Moreover, the EU institutions now no longer develop environmental policies to tackle hazards when they happen, but they also work on policies to prevent environmental problems before the fact.