ABSTRACT
The European Union's (EU) 15 member states extend across most of the western part of Europe but contain very contrasting natural and man-made environments. Accordingly, the EU's environment policies have to accommodate the problems of highly industrialised and urbanised states, suffering substantial environmental degradation, with individual member states at different stages in accepting and implementing a supposedly common environmental agenda. The treaty base of the EU exercises vital and enduring control over its operations. More powers of co-decision on environmental policy issues were handed to the European Parliament. The European Court of Justice has played a key role in the development of European environmental policy. The treaty of Amsterdam, signed in June 1997, finally committed the EU to the principle of sustainable development and also made it easier for individual member states to maintain higher environmental standards than those set for the EU as a whole. Sustainable development 'will require significant changes from current patterns of development, consumption and behaviour'.
