Environmental legislation and safeguards are being rolled back in Spain, Greece and other countries, under the pressure, or excuse, of financial and economic crisis. One might think that the same would be happening in the EU’s newest and poorest member states, Bulgaria and Romania.  But in fact, the application of environmental safeguards and legislation has actually improved over the past couple of years and has been more in the focus of att...

Spain’s 1988 coastal law will be revised, in the direction of environmentally costly development, following its February 19th approval by the majority of the Congress of Deputies. The new legislative proposal provides amnesty to tens of thousands of owners of illegal properties, primarily holiday homes, beach bars and industrial facilities, instead of making the illegal development companies pay for the damage. The proposed law also introduces...

As Bulgarian citizens suffer from declining wages and rising unemployment and taxation, massive angry rallies, triggered by the high energy prices, caused the entire  Government of Boyko Borisov to resign in 20 January. ...

European Commission: European Economic Forecast – Winter 2013 (February 2013) Danish Energy Authority:  A bright side of resource taxation: Green production contributing to growth (November 2012). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: Euro Crisis, Austerity Policy and the European Social Model  - How Crisis Policies in Southern Europe Threaten the EU’s Social Dimension (February 2013)  ...

Greece Shows Us How Poverty Degrades the Environment | Huffington Post-The blog (23 January 2013) Crisis-hit Greeks chop up forests to stay warm | BBC (26 January 2013) Finding an Economic, Environmental Win-Win in Davos | PBS Newshour (27 January 2013) The CAP gets leaner, but not greener | Euractiv (14 February 2013) Fate of green CAP plans hangs on Parliament | Euractiv (15 February 2013) How crisis policies threaten the EU’s social...

David Cameron’s declared intention to renegotiate the EU’s competences was renewed in January, in a speech about his plan to launch a referendum on UK membership of the EU....

The European Commission announced its proposal for a directive setting out the framework for the implementation under enhanced cooperation of the tax on financial transactions....

Spain’s rollback from renewables to oil and gas is having a serious impact on important natural treasures....

In its second vote, the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) rejected important greening measures and links with existing EU laws, such the Water Framework Directive. It also voted in favour of a “greening” payment, which would add up to the basic payment, thus raising serious issues about double payment to farmers who may or may not choose to implement environmental measures.According to WWF, the p...

The draft law on strategic investments, proposed by the Croatian Ministry of Economy is aimed at encouraging investments, ensuring economic growth and employment. The proposed Law is in contradiction with the provisions of the Constitution and other laws of the Republic of Croatia, already aligned with the EU acquis communautaire, which is particularly worrying nature conservationists in Croatia....