Green Plans, Revised Ed: Blueprint for a Sustainable Earth

8. European Union Environmental Policy

Since my last edition, a major change in the world has been the advance of the European Union. The eu represents a remarkable success story, and part of that story is that its environmental policy is steadily progressing. This was accomplished by its move to an integrated, target-oriented, progressive environmental management plan. The eu has demonstrated that you can balance environmental care with economic concerns through modern regulation and an integrated approach, in dialogue with stakeholders, and by assessing the costs of inaction and the impacts of action in a balanced way. From an economic perspective that is important to U.S. citizens , another proof of the eu’s success is the status of the euro, its new monetary unit. In a world-trade setting, this has impacted the billfold of every family in the United States, whether or not they travel to Europe. Five years ago, if you purchased an item in Europe, say a hat, marked ten euros, its real cost to you in dollars would have been eight dollars. Today, if you buy the same hat, marked ten euros, its real cost in dollars will be twelve dollars. chapter eight European Union Environmental Policy 164 | assessing green plans in action The example of the eu is dramatic and far advanced beyond anything going on at the federal or state levels in the United States. That is not to say that the states working on a Green Plan haven’t benefited. For instance, Oregon, Minnesota, and New Jersey have all benefited by their efforts; however, without a federal policy to support their efforts, achieving success will be far more difficult. Their plans have not resulted in the kind of comprehensive, overall policy that the Green Plans are all about. what is the european union and what is it doing? The European Union comprises twenty-seven independent nations organized around a common desire for their economic, environmental, and political good. I see the eu as the miracle of the twentieth century, and a worthy alternative to the idea of solving conflicts by war. The most tempting political argument for the eu is that despite the residual anger from generations of war and conflict, the individual countries have been able to unite and successfully work together, even forming a shared currency, the euro. The fact that the euro is becoming strong in competition with the dollar is a measure of the eu’s success. background As part of the Amsterdam Treaty of 1992, sustainable development was introduced as a key goal for the European Union nations.1 It required balance between economic, environmental, and other dimensions of policy and is a clear reflection of the goals of sustainable development as discussed in chapter 2. Although there are conflicts yet unresolved, in comparison with the United States, the eu is about a century ahead in environmental planning and policy. Along with its efforts toward managing environmental quality comes the development of an european union environmental policy | 165 associated skill in managing other related affairs. For instance, the management of energy has involved developing a careful shared policy on what are the best ways and means of utilizing energy and controlling accompanying problems such as air pollution. The eu is aware of the costs and consequences of industrial processes and is managing them by using the most efficient technology. economic cooperation as the basis for political cooperation The determining factor in the eu’s structure is its reliance on economic partnership rather than a government of states. There is a central governing body and many hope that it will become a nation of states. However, as mentioned earlier, in the election of early 2005 a proposed eu constitution that would have moved the eu more toward a nation of states, comparable to the United States, was defeated through opposition by France and Holland. Despite the failure to create an acceptable constitution , the eu is thriving. The eu model clearly includes heightened attention to the social and ecological dimension. Difficult as it may be to keep social and ecological concerns on the agenda, the eu succeeds in showing that progressive environmental policy is possible without negatively affecting the economy. Clear examples of this are their climate change policy, chemicals policy, and so-called thematic strategies, which I will discuss later in this chapter. why should we in the united states care...