ABSTRACT
The east European upheavals have profoundly changed a situation that had been stable for 40 years. Each country recently liberated from the Soviet sphere of influence has already requested entry to the European Community (EC), but western countries are lukewarm in their response. Whereas in economic or military affairs this cautious approach is understandable, hesitation about close east-west co-operation in the area of environmental protection is less justified; environmental problems are, after all, essentially transnational, long-term and threaten the entire continent, and confronting environmental problems might establish a precedent for pan-European cooperation in other areas.
