The Lisbon Treaty and the Environment

The Lisbon Treaty will have a considerable impact on the development of policy and law on the environment. Potential damage from trans- boundary pollution, for example, calls for common EU measures to protectthe environment and for more efficient implementation of the concept of sustainable development as a core EU objective. With the Lisbon Treaty, the EU assumes even greater responsibility for global environmental protection. By the European Union Treaty, environmental policy must be integrated with economic, social, energy, agricultural, transport and other policies. With the Lisbon Treaty, the links between the environmental sphere and the other mentioned spheres will be much stronger. Since 1973, , has developed spectacularly. The Treaty of 1957 contained no provisions on the environment. The Single European Act defined the protection of the environment and Maastricht identified the environment as an objective of EU activity. The treaties of Amsterdam and Nice further strengthened EU activities on the environment and sustainable development. The Lisbon Treaty expands the scope for common action on the environment and a more coherent energy policy. Article 191 defines the priority objectives of EU environmental policy: preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment; protection of human health; prudent and rational utilization of natural resources; promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, in particular climate change. Article 194 promotes a more harmonized energy policy in the context of the establishment and functioning of the internal market and with regard for the need to preserve and improve the environment. The EU internal energy market will produce solidarity in the Union and ensure the existence of an energy market