Chapter Six. EU Environment Law

This chapter first sets out the challenge that faces the twelve new Member States in approximating to the environment acquis still today and gives a more specific insight into the pre-accession strategy for that purpose. Briefly drawing the limits to the EU environment acquis, the pre-accession and post-accession conditions of approximation on the incoming Member States in policy areas beyond the reach of the environment acquis are then explored. The chapter traces the conditionality that the fifth and sixth Accession Treaties attach to the new Member States' commitments to fully comply with the acquis once these temporary derogations have expired. The final section of the chapter looks at the performance of the new Member States after their accession in order to comment on whether the transitional arrangements have been feasible benchmarks for compliance by the new Member States.Keywords: EU environment acquis; new Member States; post-accession conditions; pre-accession strategy