ABSTRACT
Protecting the environment cannot really be achieved unless an environmental dimension becomes integrated into other policy sectors and in particular into economic policy. That is the basic message of sustainable development, as defined by the European Union in its Fifth Environmental Action Programme (EAP) and the Maastricht Treaty. This ambitious aim has demanding implications for policy-making, requiring constant strategic planning and concerted effort by a variety of different actors. As such, sustainable development presents a formidable challenge to the countries of Mediterranean Europe given their reputation for policy ineffectiveness and political corruption, as well as for administrative lethargy and defective policy co-ordination. Ultimately, sustainable development has systemic implications in the operation of environmental policy, for its consequences are not only administrative, political and economic but also social and cultural.
