The principle of the rule of law in the European Union’s external policy

Rule of law, whose core is „the access to an independent judiciary and judicial review”, fulfills in EU external policy two functions. Firstly, according to the art. 21 of TEU, all EU external actions have to be subdued to the rule of law. Secondly, promoting and consolidating the rule of law is one the objectives of EU external action. In most constitutional systems, a wide margin of appreciation is left as regards to foreign policy and judicial review is considerably limited. In case of EU, the Court’s jurisdiction over EU external policy is differentiated and reflects the old pillar structure. The question which arises here is whether it can be accommodated with the disposition of the art. 2 of TEU, which states that the European Union which is a single legal entity „is founded on the value of rule of law”, and with the principle of EU external policy coherence.

The European Union’s policy in the field of environmental protection aims to achieve a high level of protection of natural enivironment. This text concerns the problems of the European Union’s environmental policy. The author analyzes the tasks of the European Union in the field of environmental protection such as promotion methods that reduce the burden on the global base of natural resources, promotion sustainable resource management at international level and to implementation the program on sustainable consumption and production. Particular attention was given to priority objectives with precise presentation of means and methods to achieve these goals, indicated in the Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the 7th EU Environment Action Program.