Topic 3: Economic Issues Affect Cooperation between Germany, the European Union, and Other Nations

Lesson 2
Step #1: Gathering Information

Strategy: Concept Development

Why are there difficulties in trying to set international environmental standards?

Activities

Have students read Handout #19: Topic 3, Lesson 2 (European Union’s Environmental Policy). Key questions teachers should post for students to consider as they read include:

What happens when one nation’s economy is dependent on an industry identified as a heavy polluter?
How should trans-national cleanup efforts be funded?
What are the current areas of environmental concern in Europe?

Have students focus on this section of the reading and discuss the question below:

This allowed the use of majority voting on environmental legislation and introduced as a principle of treaty law the concept of sustainable growth which respects the environment. While leaving plenty of scope for national action and allowing member states to take even tougher protection measures than those agreed at Union level, the treaty says that Union policy should contribute to the pursuit of:

Preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment
Protecting human health
Ensuring a prudent and rational utilization of natural resources
Promoting measures at the international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems

The treaty requires Union policy to aim at a high level of protection, at rectifying environmental damage at the source, and to be based on taking preventative action and making the polluter pay.

Which phrases in the above section might lead a nation to not support the EU environmental policy?

Reasonable responses might include problems with these phrases:

“majority voting on environmental legislation” if a nation wasn’t in the majority;
“rectifying environmental damage at the source” if the source was in that particular nation;
“making the polluter pay” if that nation is the polluter.