The European Union and its role in addressing the threat of biological invasions

This chapter presents the general tenets of European environmental policy, its basic principles and objectives, and the distribution of competences among Brussels’ institutions and between the institutions and the Member States. In the second part, the chapter presents the current situation of biological invasions in the territories of the Union and the main European actions in this sector. In particular, attention will be devoted to the regulatory pressure exerted by relevant international conventions and to the main tools developed within the EU framework, such as the Birds and Habitats directives, the Natura 2000 network and other specific directives and regulations.