Umweltschutzrecht in Tschechien

Abstract

After 40 years of a totalitarian regime, the state of the environment in Czechoslovakia was catastrophic. The revolutions that swept through Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in 1989/1990, including Czechoslovakia, sparked enthusiastic hopes for a better, democratic and perhaps “greener” future for this region. The major strategic goal of all the post-communist CEE countries was to join the European Union. The “eastern” enlargement was to take place under strict conditions in order to ensure that the EU does not suffer the negative consequences of an ill-prepared expansion. In the light of joining the EU, Czechoslovakia managed to adopt the whole series of progressive environmental legislation. However, after the parliamentary elections in June 1992 and the split of Czechoslovakia, environmental protection had to give way to economic growth and the overall transformation of society. This paper describes the development of Czech environmental law from a legal and a political perspective, providing examples illustrating the Czech Republic’s performance in implementing the EU environmental law and policy. After 17 years of membership in the EU, the Czech Republic and the implementation of the EU environmental law is still in conditional mode - the availability of the EU funds is the main leverage and motive to comply with the EU law.