Sharing of environmental competences between the European Union and the member States

Abstract

When the Treaties of Rome of the European Economic Community (EEC) were signed in Rome in March 1957, it did not exist an imminent concern towards the environmental issue, for that reason, the original Treaties did not contain either a specific provision relative to environmental protection, or a recognized competence of this matter attributed to the communitarian institutions. However, the Treaty establishing the European Community of Coal and Steal (TECSC), in 1952, had already taken into account the investigation of some aspects of the contamination caused by the industries of coal and steel. And after, the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (TEAEC or EURATOM) in 1957, included, for the very first time, some basic standards of ionizing radiation. Fortunately, the European Community (EC) was progressing quickly on environmental contents. In 70’s decade, the EC began to develop its first legislation in this area, mainly in form of «directives », hence undertaking an unstoppable way. In fact, we possess the most extensive environmental normative body of the world and more of 80% of the environmental national norms of the Member States (MS) are based on the communitarian legislation. The present article mainly makes a route through «the competences », which have been conferred upon the European Union (EU) by its MS in order to attain environmental objectives they have in common. In addition, it is compared the degree of attribution of the environmental competence through the renovation of communitarian Treaties.