EU Environmental Legislation Legal Perspectives on Regulatory Strategies

‘EU environmental law is now a dominant source of influence in the development and application of environmental law and policy in most Member States. This important new study provides a fresh appraisal of the changing nature of EU environmental legislation, and the tensions between discretion and goals. Above all it tackles the difficult questions of the appropriate role and design of law in tackling current and future environmental challenges. It should be required reading by
all those concerned with the future of environmental law, both within Europe and elsewhere, and the authors are to be congratulated on the quality and scope of their analysis.’
– Richard Macrory, University College, London, UK

This thought-provoking book offers a cross-cutting debate on EU environmental legislation from a legal perspective focussing on key themes such as regulatory instrument choice, the coherency of law, and enforceable commitments.

Based on thorough investigations of several environmental domains – particularly water law, air quality law, industrial emissions law and climate and energy law – it presents the current state of EU environmental regulatory approaches and suggests potential ways for improvement. It pays close attention to the consequences of EU legislative choices for Member States and balances the need for clear environmental legislation providing enforceable substantive rights to citizens against the wish to leave discretion to Member States.

This timely book provides a critical review of the complexity and inherent flexibility of EU environmental law. It will have great appeal to environmental law scholars, political scientists, environmental policy and law consultants and to Governmental officers both in the EU and Member States.