Admission requirements
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Description
Over the past four decades, EU environmental policy has flourished from an ‘inofficial’ policy without a specific legal basis in the EU treaties, as a by-product of economic integration, to one of the ‘core’ areas of EU policy-making, which moreover must be ‘integrated’ into all the EU’s other policies. Today, the environment is one of the most densely regulated EU policy fields and raises numerous questions including as regards the efficiency of decision-making, implementation and enforcement practices, the quality and transparency of regulatory output and input, the effectiveness of the policy in improving the state of the environment in Europe, the legitimacy of regulatory activity in the EU multi-level context, and the role of the EU in international environmental politics and global sustainable development.
course objectives
This course has four main objectives:
To familiarize students with the fundamental concepts that govern EU environmental policy and law – its main actors, principles (incl. Precautionary principle), and procedures; as well as to facilitate an understanding about how those concepts are translated into EU Member States legal orders;
To review the policy-making process in this exemplary policy field, through a general introduction and overview of the body of EU environmental instruments, as well as more in-depth case studies of policy areas (e.g. climate change, GMO foods & agricultural biotechnology) which are of growing importance to the EU’s objective of attaining sustainable development, while also bearing significant implications for internal market trade and the EU’s global competitiveness.
To situate EU environmental policy-making in the context of both national and international dynamics, including the inevitable trade and environment conflict within the EU and WTO, and to explore how the EU operates in the global political arena.
To provide a foundation and an interactive platform for students’ individual research projects (essays and presentation) on specific issues of EU environmental policy or law.
timetable
See Timetable
mode of instruction
Seminar
assessment method
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blackboard
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reading list
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registration
Enrollment via uSis
contact information
T. Etty