The Legacy of the European Union’s Fifth Environmental Action Programme (1992-2002): Balancing Between Growth and Environment

The integration of environmental policy with the internal market has been the main objective of the EU since the early 90s. With the unfolding events in international environmental politics and the focus on ‘sustainable development,’ the EU’s Fifth Environmental Report (EAP) (1992-2000), was launched to achieve integration between environmental protection and economic policies. Following the Maastricht treaty’s historic integration of environmental policy into its legal framework, the Fifth EAP is no longer seen as a social cost but rather as an opportunity for balanced growth in the recessing economy and as a boost to employment generation. More importantly, the changing scenario of the global economy and the focus on global environmental problems meant that the Fifth EAP inevitably had to balance growth and the environment. Therefore, the Fifth EAP, ‘Toward Sustainability’, indicated a shift in the EU’s economic sector where integration of the economy into the environment is seen as a necessity to the EU to have a competitive advantage in the global economy.