Europeanization of Environmental Law of the European Union Member States

Abstract

Topicality. The topicality of the issue presented in the article is due to the insufficiency of research on the Environmental Law Europeanization in domestic legal science. The purpose of the article. The purpose of the article is to study the essence of the concept of “law Europeanization” and the peculiarities of its implementation in the field of Environmental Law of EU member states and candidate states. Research methods. The Europeanization concept arose and developed as a result of changes occurred within the theory of integration itself. The article deals with the influence of the process of deepening of the integration and expansion of the European Union on the obligations of the member states regarding the protection of the environment and climate.It is observed that the construction and functioning of the EU legal order is a decisive factor of integration, which is viewed as a project of building a single market, complemented by the range of policies implementation, in particular in the field of environmental and climate protection. Results. The concept of Environmental Law Europeanization was analyzed, and the way how the legal systems of the EU member states contribute to the development of the European Union Environmental Law, which is supranational by its legal nature, was examined.It is emphasized that the Europeanization of law cannot be addressed as a homogeneous process, nor as a process that leads to the same result in each of the member states.Despite the obvious dominance of international law and globalization as factors determining the national law reform, it can be argued that the peculiarities of legal regulation of relations in the field of environmental and climate protection are caused by the consequences of “soft” or indirect Europeanization. In many cases, the rules of the EU legal order, which are incompatible with national rules, create pressure on national governments, prompting them to adapt national environmental legislation to European environmental legal standards. Attention is drawn to the fact that within the framework of the process of European integration, the process of de-Europeanization can occur to a certain extent and for various reasons. The significance of the results. The conclusions obtained as a result of the research will contribute to the awareness of the phenomenon of Europeanization of the EU member states and candidate states national law, in particular such a component as Environmental Law, its directions and forms, and may be useful in the process of domestic environmental legislation to the European Union environmental legislation adaptation.