The Eastern enlargement of the EU poses major challenges for German and European environmental policy. On the one hand, the process of political and economic transformation in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe offers a unique opportunity to substantially improve the state of the environment in the whole of Europe. On the other hand, there is a serious risk that the level of environmental protection will suffer – perhaps even that which has already been achieved so far will be undone - if an 'environmentally friendly' political strategy of Eastern enlargement should fail.