To which extent is the EU entitled to launch environmental policies? Please give examples. (PDF)

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: 1,3 (A), University of Applied Sciences Mainz (Economics), course: European Integration, language: English, abstract: 1.1 Assignment's title
"To which extent is the European Union (EU) entitled to launch environmental
policies ? Please give examples."
1.2 Complication
The assignment should not simply be answered by proving the fact, that the
European Union (EU)2 is able to launch environmental policies. Instead one
should analyse the complex field of policy-making on the environment within the
EU.
Mainly two questions specify the scope of this analysis:
- What are the competencies of the EU within the field of environmental
policy and what is the legal basis for such competencies?
- With regard to the role of the Member States, in what ways do limits to EU's
policy on the environment exist?
1.3 Realization
First, in order to provide a basis for the analysis the forms of legislation
available to the EU, which are mentioned in this essay and the core legal basis
of EEP shall be outlined. The following analysis will illustrate in how far the EU or the Member States
respectively are responsible to determine environmental policy. In this context
past examples from policy-making on the environment shall support the
theoretical elucidation.
At the end a summary of the results produced by the preceding chapters and a
final answer to the question posed in the essay's title will be given.

2 The European Community (EC) as on of the three 'pillars' of the European Union (EU) is
responsible for policy on the environment.