Legal Transposition and Implementation Frameworks for Lithuanian Approximation of EU Environmental Law

Abstract

In March 1998 the European Union (EU) formally launched a negotiation process by which to further enlarge the EU, having, in the preceding years, invited several former Soviet-influenced countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), along with Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, to participate in accession to the EU if they so wished. This is the second of two articles concerned with Lithuania’s accession to the EU, the process of approximating EU environmental law and the legislative intricacies involved therein. The first paper critiqued the process of enlargement of the European Union from a largely pragmatic legal perspective through a legal case-study examination of Lithuania’s efforts in approximating the environmental acquis into national law. Lithuania was an accession state from Central Europe and acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004. The first paper provided insight into and guidance upon the process of the approximation of environmental law as it may relate, or has related, to other accession countries. It highlights the practical steps and the route of accession to the EU along with the legal requirements contained therein.This second paper focuses more specifically upon the actual implementation and related strategic aspects revealed in Lithuania’s efforts to approximate EU environmental law by reference to best practice, as developed by the lead author, for the EU.