With flooding in Central Europe once more headline news this spring and the loss of at least twelve lives across Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia, the proposal for a new Floods Directive from the European Commission in January 2006 seems like a timely intervention. Ecologic together with IEEP has produced a preliminary assessment of the Flood Directive proposed by the European Commission. It is intended as a policy briefing to help inform members of the European Parliament about the issues involved when discussing the proposal.

With the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), the European Union aims to redefine the relationships between itself and the new neighbours it acquired in the EU Enlargement of 2004. Economic integration remains at the heart of the ENP, but increased co-operation in the areas of environmental and energy policy is addressed as well. This Ecologic Newsletter by Sascha Müller-Kraenner examines this important issue and also surveys questions that the EU and its new neighbours will need to address together.

Nature protection policy and environmental measures within development and international cooperation play a central role in conflicts over resources. Since the mid-nineties, the topic of globalization was making all the headlines. Since September 2001, global security has dominated the international agenda. Against the background of this development, a special meaning is given to global environmental governance as well as the development of the concept of sustainability. A paper by Sascha Müller-Kraenner and Uwe Brendle.

Hansen, Wenke and Peter Beyer 2003: Incineration as recovery and disposal of waste: Analysis and interpretation of the judgements of the European Court of Justice C-458/00 and C-228/00. IEEP/Ecologic.

Beyer, Peter; Clare Coffey; Anneke Klasing 2003: Actively Shaping European Environmental Policy – Briefing Paper on the Draft Constitution for Europe. Ecologic Institute, IEEP, Berlin/Brussels.

What are the impacts of European infringement procedures regarding the non-compliance with nature conservation legislation on certain areas? And, to what extent can protected areas contribute to fulfill the requirements of the nature conservation legislation by means of sustainable management with appropriate financing?

Tanja Dräger 2003: Der Konvent zur Zukunft Europas. Die "Ergrünung" des Landwirtschaftskapitels in der Europäischen Verfassung. Berlin.

The Laeken Declaration, convening the Convention on the Future of Europe, submitted a broad mandate to it, requesting it to reorganise the distribution of tasks between the EU and the Member States. However, the Convention did not consider reallocation of competencies, but rather concentrated on the task of ensuring transparency for the delimitation of competencies. Ecologic published a Brief that presents the system underlying the constitutional division of competencies, points out consequences of the system, and assesses them from an environmental point of view.

The Laeken Declaration, which constitutes the mandate for the European Convention, calls for institutional reforms to improve the EU’s efficiency, democratic accountability and transparency. Although the Convention adopted the draft Constitutional Treaty in June/July 2003, its environmental implications remain highly uncertain. Ecologic published a Brief that analyses the draft Constitutional Treaty. Furthermore, it considers the potential environmental merits and shortcomings of the broader reform options which have provided the backdrop for the Convention’s discussions: What are the basic options for improving the EU’s efficiency, democratic accountability and transparency? How do they fare from the point of view of the environment?

This Ecologic Brief is part of the project EcoFuturum "Europe's Democratic Challenge: Actively Shaping European Environmental Policy". It is part of a series of contributions to the European constitutional debates, and Ecologic thus continues its tradition of work on "Greening the Treaties".

The results of the workshop entitled "The Architecture of the Global System of Governance of Trade and Sustainable Development" that took place on 9 and 10 December 2002 in Berlin have been published in an Ecologic Brief. Based on the background paper of the workshop and the debates which took place during the discussions, this brochure seeks to give an overview of the complex issue of the global governance of trade and sustainable development and to convey to a wider audience the main questions facing the research community.

The main conclusions and results of a study exploring functions, rules and practices of NGO participation in international environmental co-operation are presented in an Ecologic Brief. This Ecologic Brief identifies a number of options for a strengthened participation of NGOs in international environmental governance and is intended to contribute to the related international discussions.

Options for a co-operation between UNEP/Mediterranean Action Plan and the EU initiative EUROMED are now presented in an Ecologic Brief. The Brief points out ways for an improved environmental integration and the sustainable development of the Mediterranean region.

This Ecologic Brief is a part of the project EcoFuturum "Europe's Democratic Challenge: Actively Shaping European Environmental Policy". It is part of a series of contributions to the European consitutional debates, and Ecologic thus continues its tradition of work on "Greening the Treaties".

Ecologic; Fridtjof Nansen Institute; Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development; Institute for European Environmental Policy 2003: Institutional Interaction – How to Prevent Conflicts and Enhance Synergies between International and EU Environmental Institutions. Lessons for Policy-Making.