ABSTRACT
Article 11 in the Treaty on the Function of the European Union (EU) sets out that: Environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Union policies and activities, in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development. The environmental literally must set the framework within which the balancing of sustainability requirements must take place. The principle of sustainable development, with its core codified in the environmental integration rule in Article 11 TFEU, contains within itself a potential transformational effect through the duties it arguably sets out for the EU institutions and the rights, and emerging duties, for Member States. Member States have the rights and the duty to follow the principle of sustainable development, as codified in the environmental integration rule, in their interpretation, implementation and application of EU law. Taking seriously the EU's environmental integration rule with its aim of achieving sustainability, may be one small but crucial step towards this goal.
