Abstract
We are living in an age, where the connection between the concepts of “environment” and “justice” is disputed in terms of its very existence and practical application. At the same time, the force of environmental law is encountered in a variety of institutional organizations internationally, among which the European Union and its cohesive member states play a pivotal role, albeit with differences amid its Community partners. In the present paper, the compliance of Greek environmental law with the European one is studied in the light of intragenerational and intergenerational justice. Methodologically, a systematic review of 106 institutional documents and scientific bibliographic references was carried out, acquiescing in the instructions of the PRISMA Statement (Moher, Liberati, Tetzlaff, Altman, & The PRISMA Group, 2009; Page et al., 2021). The findings of the research showed both the prevalence of appropriate institutional mechanisms at Community and Greek domestic level, as well as the chronic shortcomings of Greece in relation to the unhindered implementation of the European environmental regulations. Consequently, the need to redefine Greek national policies so as to be characterized by an explicit ecological orientation and to update the investigated issue in the context of the current coronavirus pandemic emerges.
Highlights
In response to ever-increasing international environmental tensions, Environmental Law (EL) aims to the legal protection of the natural environment itself and of its components from human activities, preventing or restoring ecological damage, bolstering up ecological balance and shielding public health (Law No 1650/1986; Yang & Percival, 2009)
In parallel with the international consciousness of environmental problems due to vitiation, depletion of natural capital and the contingent energy plight during the 1970s, the European Union (EU) [at that moment, the European Economic Community (EEC)] became active in the political and legal protection of the environment, which was gradually shaped in the decades that followed (Doussi, 2001)
With Single European Act of 1986, the unambiguous necessity for the preservation of the environment was incorporated in the transcript of the above pact (Art. 130) (Papadimitriou, 2006)
Summary
In response to ever-increasing international environmental tensions, Environmental Law (EL) aims to the legal protection of the natural environment itself and of its components from human activities, preventing or restoring ecological damage, bolstering up ecological balance and shielding public health (Law No 1650/1986; Yang & Percival, 2009). The environmental gap either between the developed and developing countries of the world (Chatzikostantinou, 2004; Tegou, 2004) or amidst persons coming from advantageous and disadvantaged socio-economic and socio-cultural backgrounds within each state raises reservations about the fundamental establishment of intergenerational and intergenerational equality on the planet (Athanasiou, 2015) After all, for this reason, the rightful entitlement of environmental justice enjoys lawful safeguards, enabling citizens to vigorously claim it by means of pluralistic, democratic processes (UN, 1998; Gartenstein-Ross, 2003; Hayward, 2005; Feinberg, 2007).
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