ABSTRACT
When the European Economic Community (EEC) was established in 1957, environmental protection, let alone the broader concept of sustainable development, was not perceived as an important issue of public policy at the national and European level. However, the emergence of the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s forced governments to start addressing environmental issues (see Chapter 2). Though the early focus was on local and national environmental issues, the international dimensions of the ecological crisis emerged on the agenda of a range of international organizations including the United Nations (UN) and the European Commission.
