... European Union was initially established as an economic agreement between the 15 participating European countries, (the Rome Treaty in 1957) although there was no common environmental consideration outlined within the treaty. The recognition that a common environmental policy was required occurred in line with the public attitude. This resulted in the first Environmental Action Program to be implemented in 1973 following the United Nations conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, 1972 (Holck, Jørgensen et al. 2002). The European Union since has operated an environmental policy that its member states must uphold; although as the initial formation of the Union was based upon an economic agreement, these early policies were merely aimed at building the single market with environmental protection rather than solely for the sake of the environment (Leveque 1996). This original Environmental Action Program lasted four years, and was updated a further three times with more than 200 ...

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