Europeanisation of Access to Justice in Environmental Matters: The Aarhus Convention in the Balkans

This book analyses the ways in which Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention enables environmental access to justice in the Balkans, a region at the epicentre of extreme climate change events.

Adopting a law-in-context approach, the chapters explore national cultures and driving forces shaping the implementation of Aarhus standards in Albania, Croatia, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, and Serbia, paving the way for their comparative assessment.

The book combines EU law and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights with the bottom-up Europeanisation brought about by rising environmental protests and the activism of civil society organisations in the region. In doing so, it explores the extent to which these Balkan countries comply with requirements stemming from Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention, and whether, despite national differences, it is possible to talk about Europeanisation of access to justice in environmental matters.

The interdisciplinary approach and geographical scope of the book make it an important read for academics and practitioners, as well as for the civil society sector and policy makers grappling with the normative and practical challenges around environmental access to justice – both in and beyond Europe.